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Video Closed Captions

Justin Liang:
Sympoh's genesis can be traced back to 1998, when four students somehow managed to find

Justin Liang:
each other, through our mutual interests in breakdancing, martial arts, gymnastics and

Justin Liang:
total disregard for self-preservation. It wasn't long before we decided we were going

Justin Liang:
to try and pioneer Princeton's first-ever breakdancing crew, because at the time, no

Justin Liang:
such outlet existed.

Mimi Onuoha:
I was surprised that Princeton had a breakdancing crew. When I came here, a lot of the things

Mimi Onuoha:
that I looked at were mainly the academics and the atmosphere of the campus, so when

Mimi Onuoha:
I came here and I saw all the different performing arts groups, I was actually amazed.

[music]

Brian Calvert:
If you are going to ask me for my... my personal interpretation of what Sympoh is, it's...

Brian Calvert:
it's for me, it's like an avenue of self-expression and self-development and a great stress relief.

[music]

Karin Tsai:
I love being in Sympoh, and especially being a girl in Sympoh. I mean, right now we’ve

Karin Tsai:
almost half of us are girls now. We've formed a sisterhood, and we love our Sympoh brothers, too.

Karin Tsai:
Tonight the girls' piece, I think we all really enjoyed, we all really bonded over that,

Karin Tsai:
and we just really want to represent hip-hop from the feminine point of view.

[music]

Jeremy Blum:
Battling is definitely one of the most intense things in breakdancing and in Sympoh, but

Jeremy Blum:
you know it's what drives us to keep on practicing and keep learning new techniques.

Jeremy Blum:
People come up with sets, you know, a general sequence of moves they want to do, but the rest is just free-styling,

Jeremy Blum:
just linking moves together and just letting your muscles take control,

Jeremy Blum:
and trying to do something that you know will look cool in the end, or that you hope will look cool in the end.

[music, cheers]

Joseph Choi:
Breakdancing is something that a lot of people never even dream of trying, and I'm glad that

Joseph Choi:
I've found the opportunity here at Princeton to really try something that I find amazing

Joseph Choi:
and a lot of people find amazing as well.

Brian Calvert:
I think when I finally leave the "orange bubble," walk out FitzRandolph Gate and get my degree

Brian Calvert:
and go on to grad school: A, I'm gonna have the connections, the networks, the friends

Brian Calvert:
I've made through Sympoh. B, I'm gonna have the discipline and hard-work ethic that it's

Brian Calvert:
instilled in me, and of course, all the great memories.

[music, cheers]