DeKALB — The Envy Dance Group won the 11th annual Homecoming Lip Sync Battle Thursday evening. The high energy Lip Sync Competition felt more like a party than a competition as various student organizations were able to express themselves by dancing, singing and posing. 

The event took place in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium at the Holmes Student Center, which barely had enough seats for the amount of people that came.

The night felt like a party as the audience members got on stage, danced on their chairs and filled the aisles throughout the performances. The energy of the audience was surprising at first but made it hard to be bored. 

Christopher Evans, one of the hosts, announced that the event was themed Rap vs. R&B. All of the music the teams used was from those two genres of music. The music was extremely explicit but matched the energy of the crowd and performers.

Some performers sang songs, going against the traditional behavior of a lip sync competitions which was strange, but it allowed another avenue for people to express themselves. Especially during performances, audience members were singing or screaming lyrics to songs. 

Each person was able to express themselves in their own way. There did not seem to be any dress code; performers wearing anything from dress clothes to revealing outfits. 

Excluding the bigger performances, the in-between interactions with the audience were as exciting as the acts. Some of the smaller performances included a few people dancing or one person singing along to the music. 

Some of the bigger performances, including the Envy Dance Group, Young Beautiful Ladies and the Present Perfect Modeling team, lasted multiple songs and were a lot more organized compared to the smaller performances. Young Beautiful Ladies received third place and Present Perfect Modeling Organization received second place. The decision was made by three judges, who were not introduced in the show. 

It was a slow start for the night and the first performance wasn’t until 9 p.m., one hour after the event started. Two members of Phi Rho Eta, Christopher Evans and Trinity hosted the event, and tried their best to keep order. They had to tell the audience multiple times to sit down or clear the aisles. Evans told the crowd that they were waiting on some performers to show up. Without the crowd’s enthusiasm and DJ Nemo’s selection, the wait was frustrating. 

Once the show began, it was sometimes hard to tell if a performance was occurring or the Phi Rho Eta members and audience members were dancing to the music. One of the segments between performances included a blackout intermission and best dressed competition. People were dancing and the room was illuminated by light from people’s phones. 

The Lip Sync 2019 Competition was fun throughout the event, and the audience confirmed that with their energetic attitude throughout the night.