Tap dance

Mark Ostow

Alley Cat Jeremy Zitomer '15, left, and Duke's Men member Alex Caron '14, race to tap singers for their respective singing groups; first one to the entryway wins. View full image

Mark Ostow

Alley Cat Jeremy Zitomer '15, left, and Duke's Men member Alex Caron '14, race to tap singers for their respective singing groups; first one to the entryway wins. View full image

Mark Ostow

Jeremy Weiss '15 (right), director (or "pitch") of the Spizzwinks, finds his rhythm. View full image

Mark Ostow

Jeremy Weiss '15 (right), director (or "pitch") of the Spizzwinks, finds his rhythm. View full image

Mark Ostow

Dean of student affairs Marichal Gentry (left, in plaid shirt) kept a watchful eye as a cappella runners tried to get to their chosen singers first. View full image

Mark Ostow

Dean of student affairs Marichal Gentry (left, in plaid shirt) kept a watchful eye as a cappella runners tried to get to their chosen singers first. View full image

Mark Ostow

The Yale Whiffenpoofs inspired would-be a cappella singers with the Whiffenpoof Song. View full image

Mark Ostow

The Yale Whiffenpoofs inspired would-be a cappella singers with the Whiffenpoof Song. View full image

Mark Ostow

Whim'n Rhythm, the all-women senior a cappella group, serenaded the crowd to kick off the evening. View full image

Mark Ostow

Whim'n Rhythm, the all-women senior a cappella group, serenaded the crowd to kick off the evening. View full image

Mark Ostow

Shades, one of the coed a cappella groups, in the Vanderbilt archway. View full image

Mark Ostow

Shades, one of the coed a cappella groups, in the Vanderbilt archway. View full image

Tap night for the undergrad a cappella groups is a night of anxiety and speed. Anxiety, because this is the moment for officially inviting freshman members, and every group wants the best singers; and speed, because the groups race each other to the dorm rooms of their top candidates on Old Campus and in Silliman and Timothy Dwight colleges. This year the event officially began at 10:30 p.m. on September 10, with songs by Whim ’n Rhythm and the Whiffenpoofs (senior-only groups that don’t tap freshmen). With the members of the other groups jammed against the High Street gate and jostling each other like paparazzi, Yale College Dean of Student Affairs Marichal Gentry declared the ritual open by dropping a broom—a relatively recent tradition. Security guards opened the gate, and the runners took off. The 13 groups invited at least 75 undergraduates to join this year. “You pick your fastest runner,” says Barry McMurtrey ’88, a member of the Whiffenpoof Board of Trustees, “and then plot your route strategically.”