One might not really connect Aretha Franklin or Paula Abdul with Interstellar Dating, but Iowa State Greek chapters have found ways to make such associations – and some even stranger ones.

The finals of the annual Greek Week Lip Sync competition are taking place Friday.

Quarterfinal cuts were made in a showcase Tuesday night. Five groups were selected from the original 14 to perform Thursday night in the semifinals. From that pool, three skits will be picked to represent the Greek System in a performance for the annual Greek Getaway.

Each group is made up of a sorority chapter and two or three fraternities.

“They work together for about a month preparing these lip syncs,” said Nichole Christensen, Greek Week co-chair and senior in biology.

“They come up with a creative skit and then they incorporate songs into it and make a dance.”

Ryan Pfantz, Greek Week co-chair for Alpha Gamma Rho and sophomore in agricultural business, said his group put a lot of effort into the lip sync this year.

“A lot of hard work and a lot of thought goes into it behind the scenes before we even start practicing, as far as coming up with an idea, and then running with it from there,” he said. “After that, you’re just trying to build on it each night. You change things around to see what works.”

Pfantz thinks his group has an advantage over some of the other skits.

“I think the thing that sets our skit apart from anyone else’s is that ours is kinda like in a space theme,” he explained. “We got robots on stage with boxes on their heads. No one else has anything like that.”

Christensen said she thought most of the skits were very original.

“I thought that the skits were really creative this year and they were all pretty different. I thought the costumes were really cool as well,” she said.

Pfantz agreed many things have improved for this year’s competition.

“I thought the choreography this year was a lot better than what I’ve seen in the past,” he said.

As far as change within the competition goes, Pfantz said his group made a few changes from Tuesday to Thursday night. But not too many.

“You can’t make too many changes,” he said. “We made minimum changes, I guess you could say. If we make it to finals, we don’t anticipate making any changes. Probably not, there might be a few things, but nothing drastic. Our skit’s what it is, and we’re just gonna run with it.”

Alisa Frandsen, director of greek affairs, said she appreciates the benefit of seeing students perform in the competition.

“It gives them an opportunity to share their creative talents with the greek community,” she said.

“For me it’s just fun to see them in that light because it’s so far removed from their academic curriculum.”