On most Sunday nights, Sympoh, Princeton University’s own break dancing troupe, can be seen practicing their craft amid blasting music and a general feeling of relaxation and camaraderie.
“I love the feeling of relaxation and the feeling that you can just come in and do what you want,” said new Sympoh member Sabrina Siu ’13.
Break dancing is an inherently individual art and sport. The mental images that break dancing conjure, of people in a tight circle around one performer, are not far off; performances here at Princeton are staffed by anyone who gets on stage and has been to a practice session or two.
“Whoever can show up performs,” said Kohei Noda ’11, one of the presidents. “There are gigs throughout the year, in which everyone is invited to perform.”
The actual performances are similarly unregimented—there is no preset order.
“Whoever is feeling the music, or whoever wants to go in, goes in,” said Noda.
The actual group on campus is more of a cooperative than a group. The practices are essentially a chance to learn new moves from the more experienced dancers and to have an open forum for practicing the complex contortions involved in break dancing.
The rank-and-file members slowly walk anywhere from nine to ten at night (practice nominally begins at 9:00 pm), and after saying hi to a couple of people, start stretching and dancing. Head stands, spinning and stationary, and hand stands are just two of the unquantifiable moves that the group undertakes, with arms and legs moving in skewed directions all while maintaining a balanced rhythm.
Anyone is welcome to these practices according to Chisom (Mimi) Ohuoha ’11, the other president of Sympoh.
“My interest in break dancing was almost accidental. Kohei…let me know about the group’s spring try-outs. Once I made it into the group, and learned more about the dance and the culture, I found myself losing my initial flippant approach and now I’m pretty attached to it,” said Onuoha.
Despite the seeming informality of the group, their quality is undiminished, the constant scene of bouncing bodies attests to their skill.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Sympoh's Break Dancing Symposium
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Behind the Bridge Club
Off to one corner in the dark, yet serene Rocky Dining Hall at 8 pm every Tuesday and Thursday, the Bridge Club, a misunderstood but genial group, meets to practice their craft. Of all the clubs that Princeton has to offer, the Bridge Club may be among the most unnoticed.
“We actually have nearly one hundred people on our mailing list, but we’re lucky if we get 8 people for two games,” added Sundstrom ’11.
Despite its manpower difficulties and relative obscurity within the Princeton bubble, the Bridge Club has placed second and fifth respectively in collegiates the last two years; the Bridge Club represented Princeton University and placed 5th or higher out of all North American colleges.
“We get to the final eight whenever we actually enter the competition,” said Sundstrom ’11. “I was disappointed with last year’s finish; one of our top players couldn’t make it in July.
Bridge has been stigmatized as a game for old women—a game hardly worth the attention of college-age young adults—yet this seemingly unassuming game is more than just a hobby for the elderly. This card game involves intricate strategies, some of which are contained in entire 3” binders, and quick adaptation against the other team as each round progresses.
Each round is a quick and almost entirely silent 7 minutes in which the teams try to outsmart each other while simultaneously predicting their opponent’s next moves. The game is a trick-taking card game with four players, two to a team. Each team attempts places bets on how many tricks they will win in the round. As more tricks are collected, players can systematically determine the best way to win their target number. While it takes only moments to learn the basic rules, it takes both years of practice to fully understand the intricacies and a particularly logical and mathematical mindset to perfect bridge.
Luckily enough, the Bridge Club is starting beginner’s lessons on Saturdays at 2pm, for all those interested but uneducated in the noble art of bridge.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Going Clubbing: Working Hard for Workers' Rights
Chances are high you’ve been to the U-store (specifically, the gear store on Nassau) at some point during your time at Princeton; if your father is anything like mine, these visits may even have been quiet frequent and involved the purchase of an entirely new, Princeton-spirited wardrobe—but then again, that might be a habit unique to him…
Regardless, you probably weren’t aware that the black and orange T-shirt or pair of shorts you purchased, if it was manufactured by Russell Athletic, is at the center of one campus activist group’s campaign for change. Princeton for Workers’ Rights (PWR) is an organization of students dedicated to the belief that “Princeton has a special responsibility to ensure that it does not profit at the expense of workers' basic dignity,” according to Scott Falin ’12. While the group began with a specific focus on issues pertaining solely to campus workers, they’ve since expanded their efforts to companies with whom the University invests or does business—including Russell Athletic, which club members report is a “serial abuser of labor rights.”
At the meeting I attended this Tuesday, members were busy discussing the results of an event they hosted last week, advertised with flyers asking, “Who’s Princeton in bed with? And who’s stuck making the bed?” A reference to the University’s investment in HEI Hotels and Resorts, these attention-grabbing posters seem to have accomplished their purpose, for PWR members were pleased with the turnout for the event: “We had at least fifty people come out” to listen to a talk given by an HEI employee claiming to have been fired in connection with his efforts to organize fellow workers, said Ian Carlin ’12.
It was clear that PWR’s members are extremely committed to their cause, in action as well as rhetoric: also discussed on Tuesday was the group’s recent meeting with President Tilghman, during which they presented a petition (with 900+ signatures!) asking Princeton to send a formal letter of written concern to HEI’s managerial board in relation to their reputed violations of workers’ rights. While Tilghman reportedly promised to get back to the group within a week, PWR was already planning to send a follow-up delegation to her office. “We want her to realize that we aren’t going to forget about this issue!” Carlin exclaimed.
Though several of the group’s members will graduate next month, Falin remains convinced that PWR will “continue to be a leader in promoting workers’ rights on campus,” and that administrators currently “less than enthused” to respond to some of the group’s demands will soon realize that “this is an opportunity for Princeton to demonstrate real leadership.”
If PWR can continue the momentum they seem to have built up over the past year, a response from Nassau Hall seems inevitable. Until then, I just may have to have a talk with my father about his U-Store habit…
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Going Clubbing: Princeton's Very Own Circus
If you were out and about last Sunday afternoon, you may have witnessed a strange gathering on Cannon Green—although, then again, after a weekend of pre-frosh excitement, I doubt anything short of a three-ring circus would have surprised you… Brightly colored objects flew through the air, bowling pins were tossed from hand to hand, something resembling a glow stick tied to a string was twirled overhead in increasingly complex patterns: in other words, it was just your typical Princeton Juggling Club meeting.
Formed more than twenty years ago, the group now consists of students (about twenty core members), professors and community members—just about anyone willing to put in the time and effort to learn to juggle. While some, like Bilesh Ladva ’11, arrived at Princeton with the basics already mastered, just as many try juggling for the first time at a club meeting. Ladva admits that it takes “hours and hours of practice” to learn a new trick but insists that the basic motions are simple to perfect, even for the uncoordinated (He offered to teach me, but I didn’t have the heart to prove his theory wrong).
While the meeting I attended appeared highly informal, with the group broken down into smaller circles and pairs experimenting with various tricks and techniques, the club does prepare and put on a choreographed performance each year in addition to making several appearances at smaller venues. This year, their show took place in February and was entitled “The Juggler of Oz,” and actually featured routines (and costumes!) inspired by the movie.
Although almost all of the jugglers I’d previously witnessed (admittedly not too many) used a set of juggling balls, Juggling Club members also work with bowling pins, rings and what I learned was, in fact, a glow stick-on-a-string—formally known as “poi”. The club has even progressed to using knives and fire, says Ladva proudly: “The University doesn’t really look kindly on the use of fire near trees and such, though, so we practice that at the home of a professor who’s also a member of the club.“ Perhaps I looked worried, for he quickly added, “We haven’t killed anyone yet!” I suppose that’s a good start…
Asked about the benefits of group as opposed to solo juggling, Ladva emphasized the collaborative nature of the activity: “It can be boring or frustrating to juggle by yourself, and it’s great to have other people to help you learn new techniques.” Judging by the relaxed attitudes and frequent bursts of laughter I observed at the meeting, it’s also just plain fun.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Going Clubbing: Slowing Things Down
Warning: this post may leave you hungry—and a WaWa hoagie might not cut it this time. No, you’ll probably be craving something more along the lines of organic Ecuadoran chocolate, or gelato made from locally grown butternut squash, perhaps even homemade bread…
After months of dining hall fare, you may be out of touch with the food world, but the same cannot be said for members of Slow Food Princeton, the campus chapter of an international organization devoted to promoting “good, clean, fair food.” As Henry Barmeier ’10 told me, “Slow Food was founded on the idea that eating is about connecting with the origins of your food, from the farmers who grew it to the chefs who prepare it.”
Thus, while the group does eat a lot of gourmet food (In February, for instance, they prepared a twelve-course meal consisting entirely of local, organic ingredients in the home of a nearby cooking teacher), their scope extends far beyond the pursuit of culinary excellence. “We’re working to promote not just gourmet pleasure but the concept of food justice. Good food is a right that should be available to everyone—but it’s not,” said Joe Vellone ’10.
To that end, the club is sponsoring a speaker series this month centered around sustainable agriculture and featuring several organic farmers and food writers. They’ll also be holding an Eat-In at the opening of the Farmers’ Market April 14th, in the hopes of promoting another of Slow Food Princeton’s key messages: that as Princeton students we have access to a wide range of sustainable food and should take greater advantage of this privilege.
As an organization, Slow Food seems at first to contradict the typical Princeton student’s mentality: when was the last time you did anything slowly on purpose? But this is precisely Vellone’s point.
“I grew up in an Italian family where food was central, so it was a bit disheartening to find that at Princeton most people eat quick meals on-the-go, grabbing Late Meal at Frist or having a sandwich in between classes,” he said.
With this in mind, Slow Food’s “meetings” bear little resemblance to those of most other clubs; rather than meet in a classroom once per week, the group primarily gets together for events, such as a tasting or a dinner, that allow them to enjoy food in a more intimate setting.
Though there are approximately 230 people on their listserv, it is a core group of students passionate about sustainable food practices that drives Slow Food Princeton. Over fall break, this group traveled to Torino, Italy, for Slow Food’s biannual international conference, which Vellone described as a “consortium of farmers, food activists, producers, chefs, and, for the first time, students.” For a campus group started only last year, Slow Food’s reach seems remarkably wide-ranging. But then again, as Barmeier reminded me, “Food is central to who we are, and what we do.”
So if you must have that hoagie, at least take some time to enjoy it.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Going Clubbing: No Rose Necessary
“Extend one foot out, gently, as if you’re testing for thin ice…good!” Robin Thomas, an Argentine tango instructor, surveys the circle of eager dancers surrounding him. It’s a Monday night, and a group of about twenty undergraduate and graduate students, professors and community members have ventured out to the Fields Center for the second in a series of five “absolute beginner” classes offered by the Princeton Tango Club. Soon, the music will start, and the circle will disperse, everyone pairing off to practice the moves they’ve just learned.
While currently a graduate student organization funded primarily by the small fees the group charges non-Princeton students to attend their classes, Princeton Tango Club (PTC) is working hard to receive recognition as an undergrad group as well. Grace Haaland ’12, is one of the undergrad students the club has been attracting lately. “I didn’t dance before Princeton,” she told me, “but once I got my first taste of the larger tango community, I was hooked.”
The idea of a community of dancers came up several times in the course of the conversation, both with Haaland and other club members: “I don’t know what it is about tango…people just like to travel [for dance events]!” says Anca Chereches ’10, who often goes to New York City for weekend “milongas” (the name for a tango dance event) herself. On campus, PTC fosters this sense of solidarity through weekly classes and open “practica” (a term for unstructured practices), as well as monthly milongas attracting students from nearby universities. This past November, the club hosted their second Princeton Tango Festival, a weekend event attended by over two hundred participants and featuring master classes taught by various instructor couples, practica and several milongas.
Pausing to observe the pairs moving together around the room with varying degrees of success, I asked Chereches whether participants were expected to attend with a partner: “Not at all! In fact, that’s what I like about tango: unlike ballroom dancing, you are trained to dance with any stranger rather than just one specific person. We’re constantly rotating partners.”
Another perk? The shoes! (Sorry, guys, but yours aren’t as exciting as the girls’…) Haaland and Chereches both eagerly pulled out their strappy black heels when the topic of footwear came up. I must have looked skeptical when I saw them (Three inches high?!), because Chereches laughed and assured me, “I can’t walk in them…but I can dance!”
I was disappointed to learn, however, that no one actually dances with a rose between their teeth. “Maybe in ballroom tango, which is more about performance, they might,” Haaland conceded. Argentine tango, in contrast, places the emphasis on the individual couple. “Most of what we do is invisible. It’s all about learning to pay attention to your partner’s balance; when you dance with one of the instructors, you feel like you’re floating!”
Roses or no roses, it seems that Princeton tango is here to stay.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Going Clubbing: Spring Greening
If you ate dinner in Forbes this Tuesday night, you probably (hopefully) noticed the lack of trays. Perhaps you were even informed by a greeter that by forgoing your all-purpose carrier for the evening, you—willingly or not—were doing your part to significantly reduce the University’s food waste.
Those student greeters are members of Greening Princeton, a group whose trayless dining initiative has been the subject of a surprisingly heated campus debate in recent weeks but whose larger mission is less widely known. To get a more complete understanding of what this club stands for (hint: it’s not just eliminating trays), I sat in on a recent meeting led by co-presidents Brooks Barron ’11 and Carol Dreibelbis ’11.
Greening Princeton’s work, I soon learned, covers a broad spectrum—everything from preserving a local watershed to reducing the waste generated during Reunions—but is united by a desire to increase campus awareness of environmental issues and implement concrete plans aimed at making Princeton a more environmentally sustainable community. When asked what sets their organization apart from other environmental groups on campus, Dreibelbis highlighted Greening Princeton’s work as a “liaison” between students and administrators, noting that, “We work with students, the Office of Sustainability, different departments on campus, Facilities and Grounds people and other administrators in our efforts to make Princeton greener.”
Barron added that the club’s primary focus on local issues and projects specific to campus also distinguishes it from groups with more nationally or internationally oriented agendas. To that end, Greening Princeton has sponsored a campus CFL exchange aimed at distributing more energy-efficient light bulbs, organized various speaker events and panel discussions related to environmental issues and collaborated with Students United for a Responsible Global Environment (SURGE) to run an inter-dorm energy-saving competition.
With a listserv of over four hundred students signed up to receive weekly announcements about relevant environmental events and approximately fifteen regular attendees at their Monday night meetings, Greening Princeton seems prepared to continue making real progress toward the goal stated in their Mission Statement: to promote a healthier relationship between Princeton University and the environment. Currently, says Barron, “We’re working on getting an on-campus composting system for food waste. We’d also like to see improvements in recycling in dorms…as well as put together a ‘How to Live Sustainably at Princeton’ video to present to freshmen during frosh week.”
And as for the oh-so-touchy tray issue? Greening Princeton is undeterred. “I can see how removing trays might seem trivial and excessive at first,” admitted Barron, “but it is a huge, glaring opportunity to seriously reduce Princeton’s environmental impact all over the world.” It seems that students might have to get used to a tray-free world after all.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Going Clubbing: Reaching New Heights
The dog dangles precariously off the edge of a steep precipice, its harness caught in the crevice of a rock. “You’ve got to save him, Ronni!” shouts Jessica Lander ’10, “He needs you!”
When Ronni finally reaches the dog after a difficult ascent, cheers ring out and Ronni beams. For although the canine she has rescued may be stuffed, the obstacles she is working to overcome are very real.
Ronni is one of five children between the ages of five and ten who make the trip to Outdoor Action’s indoor climbing wall every Friday to participate in Peak Potential Princeton, the latest chapter in an organization created by Dr. Jen Fu Cheng ’93 in 2000. Ronni and her peers all suffer from some form of muscle or limb weakness such as cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy, but when they mount the wall such problems seem to be left behind on the ground. This was precisely Cheng’s hope in creating Peak Potential: as co-coordinator Tracy Walsh ’10 put it, the weekly climbing sessions are “part physical therapy, part enjoyment.”
Although this is the chapter’s first year on campus, Walsh reported that approximately twenty-five Princeton students are involved, with fifteen showing up on any given Friday evening to work with the young children. While this may seem like far too many volunteers given the small number of kids in attendance, each child works with a team of three: one to climb the wall with him or her, and two others to remain on the ground and belay. Though many of these volunteers are regular staff on the rock wall, others have far less experience and come simply because they enjoy working with the young climbers. Lander ’10, the groups other coordinator, stressed that because only a handful of children come weekly, the volunteers have developed close ties with each of them throughout the course of the year: “It’s as rewarding for us as it is for them! They have a level of enthusiasm and energy that’s infectious,” she gushed.
After I watched the group for awhile, I had to agree. The atmosphere in the room was one of encouragement and support, with volunteers and parent spectators continually urging the children on, and cheers ringing out whenever someone reached the top of the wall. As for the dog Ronni was “rescuing”? It’s one of the new strategies the group has come up with to motivate and encourage their students, and it seems to be working, for Ronni was noticeably more inspired to work her way up the wall with the dog in place than when she began her ascent without it.
Walsh seemed proud when asked if she had seen progress in the kids since September: “At first for some of them, it was a really big deal for them to get all the way to the top of the wall. Now, they’re reaching the ceiling multiple times in every session!”
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Going Clubbing: Found in Translation
Sick of dining hall food? Perhaps you’d prefer the “red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of fingers” one Polish hotel proudly offers. Or maybe some Swiss wine that would “leave you nothing to hope for”?
While such examples of translation gone horribly wrong can be found on the web in increasing quantities—often compiled by humor sites in an attempt to elicit a few chuckles—accurate translation is a more somber matter for non-profits around the world whose limited budgets leave no room to hire a professional translator. Fortunately for them, PULP is ready to help. (No, not the O.J. kind…) The Princeton University Language Project, in keeping with Princeton’s in-the-service-of-all-nations spirit, offers free translation services in more than five languages to charitable organizations based both in the U.S. and abroad.
Formed in 2005 by Eugene Yi ’08, PULP now boasts a mailing list of 400 students, with 25-30 volunteer translators regularly attending the group’s Friday afternoon translation workshops. Some of these undergrads, says Lily Fu ’11, PULP’s newly-elected President, are native speakers, but as many more are not. Meghan Todt ’11, for instance, explained that she joined the group last year after finding that she could no longer fit Spanish classes into her schedule but still wanted to maintain the level of proficiency she had acquired over several years of language study.
When Fu assured me that PULP welcomes students of all fluency levels, pointing out that projects vary widely in terms of difficulty, I was at first skeptical. Let’s just say that if I, with my pitiful command of the Spanish language, were to attempt translation for real organizations, the results would not be pretty. Yet PULP is organized such that multiple students review each translated document before it is completed.
“The first draft is the hardest, and the most time-consuming,” said Fu, “but native speakers of the language always edit these preliminary drafts to ensure accuracy.”
It seems that their system is working. In its earliest years, PULP reached out to organizations it believed could benefit from its services; today the group is frequently contacted by companies who have heard about its work and seek translators for their own documents. Even Princeton has joined in, Fu notes: “Last year, we translated Orange Key’s online virtual tour, as well as documents for University Health Services.”
What’s next for the club? Fu mentioned that PULP plans to again sponsor an undergraduate translation competition in the hopes of generating campus-wide awareness for the group. She’d also like to expand PULP’s language base: while translators work on a consistent basis in Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Japanese and French, there is always a need for additional languages.
For now, however, PULP will continue to “fight Engrish” the best way they know how, one non-profit at a time.
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