ER-REE! ER-REE! ER-REE! The music had started. It was the siren-like sounds and the fast-paced beat of Method Man and Redman’s “Da Rockwilder.”

“All right, all right,” an audience member said.

The Main Event entered the room basketball-game style, and the tape announced the starting lineup.

“Frananizer! Queen Thickness! Joe Lewis! Kiki Rai! Explosion! ReRe! And Al Smith!”

The group gave a high-energy performance despite only having practiced its routine three times as a group.

The Main Event was created by Allan Fields, ISU alumnus, in the spring of 2002.

“The first time I danced on stage was at Harambee 2001 in a group called Flavas,” Fields says. “This gave me the idea to start my own group.”

Fields had gathered eight people to make up the Main Event, but at Harambee 2002, only four performed.

“Some people just felt like they couldn’t do the moves, but others probably just had other commitments and didn’t have time to come to practice,” says Kierre Person, junior in apparel merchandising, production and design. “We just decided no matter how crazy we looked we would still dance with four people because we had worked hard.”

“Basically we got people by word-of-mouth,” Fields says. “Desmond [Chester, freshman in community and regional planning] is one of the first people I asked to join.”

“I saw a video of the Harambee performance and I thought it looked like something I wanted to do,” Chester says. “Then Allen asked me if I could do footwork, and I said yes. Then I found a couple people, and he found some more people, and that’s how we started.”

This semester, the Main Event has performed twice, once at a step show and the other time at the ISU Nigerian independence event.

Reisha Bogan, freshman in art and design, says she didn’t know much about the group, but knew she loved to dance.

“A couple of young ladies in the building I lived in asked me if I wanted to dance. I said sure,” she says. “I just knew that most of the members were from Chicago, so I had an idea of what kind of dancing we were going to be doing, but I didn’t really know anything about the group. I just went.”

Many of the dancers have had dance training, but that is not a criterion to participate.

“We don’t hold tryouts. If you’ve got rhythm, or even if you don’t, you can come,” Chester says. “All we want to see is that you like to dance.”

Person agrees.

“It’s not so much about your skill level. It’s just about whether or not you’re willing to put in the time,” she says. “Once you leave practice, it doesn’t end there. You go home and break out the CD and perfect yourself.”

“And if you need help, I’ll make the time,” Person says. “I’m a night person anyway. I’m ready to jam any time.”

Despite intense workouts, the Main Event has managed to not only stay friends, but also become a tight team.

“It’s a very warm group of people,” Bogan says. “I joined the group late, but everyone made me feel welcome. We’re like a little family.”

“I came into the dance group this year seeing a lot of new faces, but now I’m just looking at that like ‘Wow, I’ve got a lot of new friends,'” Person says. “We’re a group of leaders; but it’s a trip because at some points we all butt heads, too. We just work through it and laugh later.”