Step show participants perform at a past Midwest Marchdown. This year's event will begin at 6 p.m. Aug. 11 at the Touhill Center at UMSL.

Stomping and clapping. Shouting and dancing. It’s all part of stepping, a percussive group performance that melds gymnastics, theatrics and multiple forms of dance.

Performers will step for charity for the annual Midwest Marchdown Scholarship Step Show at 6 p.m. Aug. 11 at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. The Alpha Eta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, which includes UMSL members, will hold the charity competition to celebrate the traditions of historically black Greek letter organizations and collegiate scholarship.

The show will feature live skits and stepping by the Divine Nine black Greek organizations. The official Midwest Marchdown after-party will begin immediately after the Midwest Marchdown. The 18-and-older event will be at Chase Park Plaza in St. Louis.

Tickets to the Midwest Marchdown at the Touhill are $15-$30. Visit touhill.org or call 314-516-4949 to order tickets. Email Ah1942@gmail.com or call 816-799-6871 for more information about the after-party.

All proceeds from the event will to go toward scholarships for two deserving St. Louis-area high school students and prize money for the two winning organizations to donate to their charities of choice. To date, the Midwest Marchdown has awarded more than $25,000 in scholarship funds and more than $75,000 in prize money for charities.

Founded Dec. 4, 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity is the oldest Greek-letter organization for African American collegiate males. The Midwest Marchdown exemplifies the fraternity’s aims: manly deeds, scholarship and love for all mankind, while providing the metropolitan St. Louis area with an evening of family entertainment and supporting the academic aspirations of the college-bound youth.