Delta Zeta re-covered recent popular cover songs and Delta Chis did some cross-dressing to take first place in Greek Week’s Airband competition.

Stefanie Bolling, a senior psychology major, said she helped Delta Zeta develop the concept, and about 12 girls started practicing three times a week starting in February and every night for the last few weeks.

Delta Zeta started with George Michael’s “Faith” and followed it with the Limp Bizkit version. Then came the ’80s classic “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell which led into Marilyn Manson’s version, Bolling said.

For the Marilyn Manson portion, performers wore all black with white masks, which they moved to the back of their heads to look like “contortionists,” Bolling said, a moment the crowd seemed to get into.

Most of the choreography was original, Bolling said, but Delta Zeta did throw in some moonwalking for the Michael Jackson segment. Some of the lip synchers lifted steps from the songs’ videos, Bolling said.

Bolling described the feeling of winning as “incredible,” and explained that in the four years she has competed in Airband, this is her first victory.

“I think this year is the toughest out of all four years I’ve been here, even in the fraternity division,” Bolling said.

Delta Chi fraternity adopted Moulin Rouge as their theme after Travis Liles, a senior administrative information systems major, said he was inspired by his viewing of the recent film over Christmas.

A cancan, featuring dresses from Grand Ball Costumes, kicked off the Delta Chi routine. Then came a tango followed by the Delta Chi rendition of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” The group wrapped it up with a version of Lady Marmalade as done by Pink, Christina Aguilera, Mya, Li’l Kim and Missy Elliot, complete with boustiers, makeup and wigs.

The guys practiced their routine for up to two hours a night, three or four nights a week for three weeks. Liles said the Delta Chi members who were most likely to work a crowd got to wear the dresses.

“We took people we knew would be charismatic in front of a crowd,” Liles said.

As for Delta Zeta, the win was something new for Delta Chi. Liles, a member since spring of 1998, said this is the first year since he joined that his fraternity was recognized.

The use of a theme and the distinctive costumes are what set Delta Chi apart from the competition, Liles said.

The guys enlisted Micaela Lowder, a graduate speech pathology major and former Sigma Sigma Sigma, and Katie Doehner, also a graduate speech pathology major and one-time Alpha Phi, to help with makeup and planning the routine.