Princeton HighSteppers

These photos are from our 2019 Hit ’Em With the Beats Step competition. We host this competition every fall and invite step teams from other universities to compete at Princeton. This is our biggest show of the year, and it is a highlight for our members as well as the Princeton community. 

Stepping is a form of percussive dance that requires precise movements and sounds. Thus, every performance requires us to find connections between beats and movements. The way in which we combine these two elements changes depending on whether we are performing a step or stroll. Steps consist of sounds generated from our movements, such as stomping and clapping, while strolls consist of steps to music and often incorporate elements of hip hop and street dance. The creative process is different for each because for stolls, we create rhythms to compliment an existing beat, while for steps, we make our own music through our movements.

When creating these pieces, we draw inspiration from the show’s theme, previous performances, and our team members. Sometimes, our performance has a story behind it that inspires our movements. Our 2019 Hit ’Em With the Beats competition followed a “video game” theme, in which each portion of our routine was based on different levels of a game. The pieces enacted a story of a character failing and dying, then reanimating, leveling up, and succeeding. 

In addition, we always encourage all our members, whether they are an officer or not, to help come up with ideas for our performances. We love to have everyone’s input in our creations because we value each member of our team. Each performance goes through several revisions before we create the final product, but all of the hours of work that every member of the team puts in makes the process very rewarding and enables us to grow closer as a family. Although we have not been able to have big, in-person performances this year, we continue to find other opportunities to step virtually and stay close as a community.