Sympoh's show inspires personal reflection

In 1969, James Brown recorded "Get on the Good Foot," a song which thereafter inspired acrobatic dance based on the high-energy moves Brown performed on stage; soon, dance forms such as breakdancing and hip-hop emerged in urban centers such as in New York and California as dance battles mimicking the Good Foot or better known as B Boy — short for Break Boy.

Movies in the '80s like "Beat Street" and "Spinnin' and Breakin'" made these moves famous. Michael Jackson's famous "moonwalk" and M.C.Hammer's pumped-up dance style are just improvised forms of breakdancing.

Often when competing teams would dance to win, a real fight would break out, as suggested by the term "break." This harsh and foolhardy nature of the dance is almost a game of chicken against an assailant; the best breakdancer, in the early 1980s, was often the best fighter or gang member on the street.

Founded in 1999 by Tim Ferris '00, Joshua Blum '02, Sherwood Forlee '02, and Justin Liang '02, Sympoh incorporates varied combinations of urban dance such as hip-hop and breakdancing; Sympoh's style also incorporate techniques borrowed from acrobatics, gymnastics and martial arts.

Yet, breakdancing is typically considered a low art form despite the fact the skill involved. Sympoh addressed this stereotype as one of their themes in last year's show "Groove Dialectix."

With the application of philosophies from Hegel and Lebeinas, Sympoh wished to prove how breakdancing actually compares to any other high art forms such as ballet and modern dance. Focusing on Hegel's basic concept of conflict – between "self" and others – and the struggle for recognition, Sympoh's show, "Groove Dialectix," introduced a dialogue of dance and song through the familiar situations of conflict between "gangs" in West-Side Story.

Highly evident in the competitive nature of hip-hip and popular culture, struggles to enslave the "other" created an atmosphere of fear. Sympoh's "Groove Dialectix" wished to represent this conflict in battle-like dance-offs between opposing groups on stage.

Elliot Ratzman, a graduate student in Religion, Philosophy and Ethics, and member of Sympoh, explains the problem with the fear of difference.

"As Lebenais in his critique of Hegel, 'We're all human' is actually a cover-up for our fear, to deal with the fear of difference in everyday life," he said. "Why reduce what's different to the same? What's different is to be valued."

Breakdancing may appear to be a thuggish and classless way of dancing, but upon further meditation and consideration of this medium's motivations, especially through Sympoh's expressions in their last show, urban dance highlights differences instead of reducing them to sameness. The individual-centered forum of the stage and the entire style of breakdancing provide an arena to compliment differences such as race and gender.

On the therapeutic rewards of belonging to the group, Daeil Cha '03 said."By focusing on individual styles and impromptu dancing rather than set routines, our hope is to have fun while providing an entirely different performance avenue that is an honest reflection of ourselves being in the moment."

Sympoh's upcoming show, "Urban Sympoh-sium," will introduce variations on the topic of self-examination and a dialogue of conflicts.

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As the show's name suggests, "Urban Sympohsium" refers to Plato's Symposium in which Socrates and other philosophers were invited to attend and engage in intellectual discourse. Sympoh invites the audience to attend the upcoming show to celebrate and meditate upon ideas dearest to the self — war, peace, love and celebration.

"'Urban Sympohsium' promises many flips in the air, spinning on the floor, and death-defying stunts. The show will also incorporate dialogue and music performance. An audience eager to exercise their minds are highly encouraged to see this performance, as the subtle and not-so-subtle elements will be interesting to uncover." Cha said.

The group consists of accomplished actors, singers, instrumentalists, and artists. As a result, performances develop into a montage of the arts. The essence of Sympoh and its purpose in general is not to please the crowd through direct entertainment — the animated style and energized performances are enough to engage the audience's attention and allow them freely enjoy the show. You do not need formal language to participate — hip-hop culture is accessible to everyone. You simply relate to the beat.