Cane (Kane) Performances In Black Fraternities & Sororities (Comments #2)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a two part series on the use of wooden canes (kanes)* in the performing arts traditions of historically Black Greek lettered fraternities & sororities.

*"Kanes" is the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. spelling for the word "canes".

Part I & Part II of this series presents selected comments about the origin, history, and contemporary performances with canes in Black Greek lettered fraternities and sororities.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/11/cane-kane-performances-in-black.html for Part I of this series.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/11/cane-performances-in-black-fraternities.html for Part III of this series.

Part III showcases selected videos of two Black Greek lettered fraternities and one Black Greek lettered sorority. In alphabetical order, those organizations are Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.(Kappas), Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. (Sigmas), and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. (SRGrho).

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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Part II

SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT THE HISTORY & CURRENT PRACTICES OF CANE PERFORMANCES IN BLACK FRATERNITIES & SORORITIES
The majority of these comments are from a Greekchat forum which included members of various Black fraternities & sororities.

These comments are posted in chronological order with the earliest comments posted first. For the sake of this series, these comments have been assigned a consecutive number, starting with Post I and continuing in Post II.

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http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=15583&page=6
Comment #6: 08-20-2005, 11:09 PM DST4A00
"...Most of the other orgs I have seen using canes have been in a stepshow capacity either as a honor to the Kappas (AKAs, DST, SGRho) or as a dis (Alphas, Ques). I know Sigmas use them as well as Sgrhos but not as faithfully."
-snip-
[Editor=“dis” = diss, insult. The Greek lettered organizations named in the parenthesis are the ones who performed with canes for the reasons that were stated.]

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http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=15583&page=8
Comment #7: 12-08-2006, DSTCHAOS
"...The colored canes (and stepping and strolling with canes) debate is different than the "who carried canes debate." Many men carried canes in the earlier 1900s because it was a sign of being a gentleman and so forth. It was initially not fraternity related but transfered [sic] over. This is why you will see different fraternities with canes in their pledge line photos or just walking across the yard..."

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http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=15583&page=8
11-17-2005, PerroLoco
Comment #8
"Omegas carried canes while on line at one time, but we do not claim that as our heritage or tradition. It belongs to the Nupes, because they kept it and made it an integral part of their CONTINUOUS persona.

At one time all freshman at Howard were called "dogs" til they achieve upperclassmen status. The Omegas and the Sigmas continued that designation with their pledges during Hell Week, but it was Omega who incorporated the DOG as an integral poart [sic] of who they are and what they stand for. For the Sigmas that I have known personally from roomates [sic] to co-workers of every era, neuther [sic] the DOG, nor the CANE was that Significant to their SENSE OF SELF AS A SIGMA.

So all of the PBS claiming these things as part of their history may be true but it was never a huge or defining part from what Sigmas made in the 50's, 60's, 70's and '80's tell me or what I experienced with my dorm-mate. I saw my dorm-mate as a Dog during his Hell Week, but that is where any canine reference ended or association with PBS. His Hell Week was completely different from mine as a Dog of Omega. Night and Day.

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http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=15583&page=9
Comment #9: 09-11-2009, Badstep
"Ok, Let's seperate [sic] fact from fiction...

Fact number one: No one can actually lay claim to being the first steppers. Stepping originated in the DC/Baltimore area long before most of yall were born. The first fraternities were the Omegas, Sigmas and the Alphas.

It started during the doo-wop era and brothers used to sing in the quad. Like the old groups like the Temptations, and Four Tops, brothers began incorporating steps to mimic the groups. Back then tap dancing was really popular and damn near every brother on earth thought he had skills. Tap is still a major influence on how brothers step. Especially "Sigmas".

That's why when you went to step shows in that area back in the day they were called "Greek Sings".

Fact number two: The african boot dance and african influence was totally non-existant back then. It came into play a little bit much later. Think about it. In the 50's when stepping originated we barely heard of south africa. The african boot dance is very similar to stepping but it is a big misconception that it had any part in the development of what we call stepping today.

Fact number three: The first known cane steppers were Sigmas. Kappas didn't start stepping until much later. The Omegas, Alphas and Sigmas were the first steppers. They evolved it into what it is today.

That being said, you'd be crazy to say that the Kappas aren't the most innovative canes steppers on the planet. They definitely took it to another level. Cane stepping styles of Sigmas and Kappas are very different. If you ever seen step shows in the Chicago area back in the 80's you would know that the Sigma canes are very thick, heavy and medium length. They are used to tap out rhythms are not very easy to twirl. Kappa canes tend to be thinner, shorter in length and lighter. While they are stable enough to tap out rhythms, they are also easier to twirl and are better for their complexed routines.

We really need to get off that "who owns what - " non-sense. We are all brother and sisters.

What we really need to do is start thinking about the relevance of "BLGO"* [sic] in this modern era. Back in the day, our organization [sic] were the place where the "Black Leaders" of our country were made and developed. (Along with the church!). This was our history and our legacy.

What are we now? We run around like we are gangs and thugs offering nothing to the community but parties, YouTube images that embarrass our families.

I've been a Sigma for almost 30 years. I'm not happy with what I see. We all need to step up and "be about something" or watch our organizations that we love so much become corrupted and morphed into abominations of disdain!
Fraternally,
Badstep
-snip-
"sic" means that the spelling mistake is in the quoted material.

"Blgo" is actually BGLO = Black Greek letter [or lettered] organizations. Click http://www.blackgreek.com/ for information about the "Divine Nine", the nine major historically Black fraternities & sororities that are members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF4iZz1e4_c
"Phi Beta Sigma FSU Extrav 2008 Step Show Part 1"
Comment #10: LooseEnds06, 2009
"You know I enjoy going on Youtube and watching the greek stepshows from various campuses; but I wanna know why I don't see Sigmas stepping with canes anymore? I mean when I was in college, the Sigmas stepped with canes like the Kappas still do. It use to be a battle as to who were the best cane twillers! I guess the Kappas won out! And NO - I am not a Kappa and I am not trying to be funny. If you ask anyone who was in school in the late 80's/90's they will tell you Sigmas stepped w/canes."

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This concludes Part II of this series.

RELATED LINK
Click this post on my zumalayah blog for information about & videos of the Egyptian folk art of cane fighting & cane dancing:
http://zumalayah.blogspot.com/2013/04/five-videos-of-egyptian-saidi-stick.html.

This link is given to show the antiquity of cane dance performances. This link is also given to show the similarities between some of these movements and those done by historically Black Greek lettered organizations. However, I'm not indicating that Egyptian cane fighting/dancing was the source of or influenced the use of cane (kane) in historically Black Greek lettered fraternities and sororities.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to all those who have quoted in this post. And thanks to the positive history & role modeling, and the performance arts legacy of all Black Greek lettered organizations.

Finally, thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.