TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — “There’s No Place like Troy” and there was no place like Trojan Arena Monday night as 13 fraternities and sororities stomped, clapped, and danced to “The Wizard of Oz” and “Wicked’s” most popular songs.  

The theme of the competition was “Dancing Through Life,” a reference to the song of the same name in the popular musical, “Wicked.” Each Greek organization had to base their costumes, music choice, and dance off of the musical and the movie it’s a prequel for, “The Wizard of Oz.”

“All of the different organizations came together and worked really hard and I think it was just cool to see everyone’s interpretation of ‘Wicked’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz’,” said Alpha Gamma Delta dancer, Keley Bulman. “I think it went really well.” 

Monday’s competition was the culmination of months of late night and hours-long rehearsals for each fraternity and sorority, who had to manage the design and choreograph for the dances themselves.

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“They really do practice every single night for months to do this and i know some organizations practice as late as 11 o’clock at night so they’re very dedicated to doing this and I really admire that honestly, said Homecoming Committee President, Abby Gilliland. “I love to see it because I know that I’m working a lot to make this event good and to see them caring that much is really great.” 

For one of the dancers, the long hours of preparation and hard work made the big performance and the audience’s reception even more meaningful. 

“Eventually you just get to the point when you just want to perform it and then hearing everyone cheer is so much more exciting,” said Farmhouse dancer, Evan Jones. “And you just know what to do because it’s all muscle memory.” 

Although the competition was strong and each group worked to be the best performance of the night, the event was much more about creating unity and Trojan spirit.

“You get to really see the trojan spirit that comes out of this and I really do love that,” Gilliland said. “I think this time of week is when you get to see the most trojan spirit out of everyone. I feel like everyone is kind of supporting each other and cheering on each other and I love how united everyone is.” 

The judges will pick the best fraternity performance and the best sorority performance and the results will be announced this Saturday at the Homecoming football game against the Arkansas State Red Wolves.