When you think of dance, you may think of ballroom, salsa or even hip-hop. While it may not be as well known as other types, step, a form of performing that includes stomping, clapping and making noise on the body to create a beat, has quietly been on the rise at Washington University through the non-Greek step team, WUStyle.

In fact, this Thursday, several Wash. U. steppers will showcase their skills and compete against other schools at the Non-Greek Stroll Off. Hosted by the black fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha, the Stroll Off competition involves groups from five different universities: Wash. U., Harris-Stowe State University, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Saint Louis University and Fontbonne University.

“Any team that is not affiliated with a fraternity can compete. You have to create your own steps, and you are judged on your [group’s] precision, rhythm, appearance, confidence and [uniformity],” said freshman Erin Miller, a member of WUStyle competing at the Stroll Off.

By tradition, the group of girls competing work with a member of Alpha, junior Ikenna Dike, to come up with a routine for the competition. Of course, creating such unique moves does not come easily; each step has to be original and centered around a specific theme.

“The most difficult part of being the team’s trainer is making up new and innovative steps that the team can learn and perform. The steps I teach the girls are all Alpha Steps,” Dike wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “The Sphinx and other ancient Egyptian symbols define our steps. Our moves reflect ancient hieroglyphs with our sharply angled arms and hands.” Dike also mentioned that another theme of the group is defined by the “ape,” which he insisted one would have to witness to understand.

The difficulty in creating and teaching new motions is only matched by the effort it takes to perfect such moves for each performer; this is especially true since each dancer in the group did not begin with the same level of expertise, and the style may not be what the girls are used to.

“The biggest difference between this type of stepping [and WUstyle’s] is that even though you have your own style, you have to act more mannish. In other types of dance, we get to be more feminine; it’s so out of character and really fun,” Miller said.

“The most challenging part would probably be the precision. Learning a move is relatively easier than it is to learn how to strike each hand movement, stomp together, say words clearly, etc.,” freshman Adrianne Gore wrote in an e-mail to Student Life.

Such hard work is bound to pay off, though, as the team is looking to defend the title set by Wash. U.’s first-place win in last year’s competition. And, it comes as no surprise that working toward this common goal for such a long period of time has brought each member of the team closer together.

“I am extremely close with all the girls on the team now. I knew a couple of them before the Stroll-Off, but the ones I didn’t know I have created a strong friendship with,” Dike wrote. “Surprisingly, we have not had any issues with anybody on the team not liking each other. When you group together seven girls from different classes, with different interests, they are bound to clash, but all the girls meshed together seamlessly. It’s funny because some of the girls now refer to me as ‘coach’ whenever they see me around.”

The closeness of the team certainly helps with the performance of its routine, which must be totally in sync in order to earn the maximum amount of points allotted by the judges. Working to achieve such a high bar, though, is worth it, according to Dike.

“The most rewarding part [of training] is seeing the girls learn the steps and get better. Now that we are on our last week, the girls have the steps down and they have all improved tremendously since the first day,” Dike wrote. “I am very proud of all my girls on the Wash. U. step team. They have been dedicated and I appreciate their hard work.”

The Non-Greek Stroll Off is Thursday at 5 p.m. in the 560 Building. Admission is $5.