Campus Program and Relations (CPR) hosted the 2019 homecoming variety show, lip sync edition with famous performer Lady Caress being the emcee for the evening. Lady Caress is a nationally recognized performance artist as a poet, beatboxer and public speaker. Before the variety show started, she showed the packed audience how she beatboxes and gave a little background of her life. Throughout the night, Lady Caress involved the audience by performing beatboxing pieces and poems she had written between the acts while they were getting ready. She also played “Never Have I Ever” with the whole crowd and worked with the answers in a comedic format. Overall, the crowd was into the show and participated when cued. 

“I liked her. She was really funny, and she was very good at engaging the audience,” sophomore Elementary Education major Elizabeth Behlen said. 

“Every year we try to bring in some outside talent to add some flare and professionalism to the event,” Interim Coordinator of Campus Activities Lukas Wymer said. 

CPR attended a NACA Northern Plains conference to bring talent to the university for different events. 

“We knew she had the right energy for the event. During the event she had everyone dancing, laughing and chanting along, and we could not be more pleased with her work,” Wymer said.

The Pioneer dance team was the first act of the night, who set the bar high by dancing to the overall theme of songs from the Grammy’s to coincide with the homecoming theme of “Pioneering Music Through the Years.” Many sororities, fraternities and a few residence hall teams performed during the show. Gamma Phi Beta and Tau Kappa Epsilon followed the dance team. They had a ‘time machine’ and every time they ran through it, the music changed to a new era. Members of the sorority and fraternity were dressed according to the song choice and decade and performed the dances that went with each song. Melcher Hall performed the famous High School Musical reenactment of Gabriella and Troy’s duet with their own spin on it. All the acts had a large variety of songs with some common overlapping songs: “Thriller,” “Cotton Eye Joe” and “Y.M.C.A.” 

“My favorite act was Gamma Phi Beta and Tau Kappa Epsilon because they had songs from different generations, and it was well planned. I also liked the dance moves,” senior Industrial Technology Management major Jordan Sorge said. 

While the judges were deciding who won the variety show, the homecoming court was brought on stage and introduced, and the royalty was announced.

After the coronation, the stage was cleared, and the top three acts were brought up on stage to announce the variety show winner. Sigma Alpha Iota and Sigma Pi was named the winner of the 2019 variety show: lip sync edition.

“Overall, we are happy with how the event turned out. The variety show is a perfect opportunity for fraternity and sorority chapters, residence halls and other organizations to showcase their talents. With all the events during homecoming week, they are not about winning the points or events, but rather, bringing together various organizations to bond with each other, step outside their normal circle of friends and come together as one university,” Wymer said.