First year fall at Bowdoin can be hectic. A euphoric senior spring followed by a lackadaisical summer soon transforms into a fast-paced first semester where college classes, social house parties and dorm bonding activities become part of weekly life, dictating one's schedule and hang out time.
Rather than become overwhelmed by this first year frenzy, however, Ryan Larochelle '13 saw it as an opportunity to explore something new—hip hop and slam poetry.
Hailing from Bangor, Maine, Larochelle came to Bowdoin last year with ample athletic experience. An avid soccer, basketball and baseball player, he continued his sports career by running track, but the urge to try something new persisted.
After perusing extracurricular options, Larochelle settled on the club for him: Bowdoin's lyrical hip hop dance crew, EleMental.
"My senior year of high school, four of my friends and I decided to perform 'Tearin' Up My Heart' by *NSYNC for our talent show as a massive fundraiser for graduation," he recalled. "In front of 900 fans two nights in a row we did the dance, and after that I decided that when I got to Bowdoin, I'd give hip hop a try. So I joined EleMental and ended up really enjoying it."
After a successful first year performing at Bowdoin fashion shows, dance shows and concerts, Larochelle was asked to be a choreographer for the group for the current school year.
Although he found learning steps and relaying them to others challenging at first, the process soon became easy—a phenomenon Larochelle credits to his experience on the sports field.
"Choreographing, learning choreography, and memorizing it remind me of being in basketball and having to play different plays," he said. "I've realized, however, that if you've played sports your whole life, it's tough to dance because you have to learn the whole rhythmic part of it and count in your head. Once you get into it though, the learning process is very similar to learning a sport; when you practice, you tend to be able to deal with it a lot more easily."
In addition to improving his choreography skills, practice has helped Larochelle perfect another creative passion—poetry.
Having composed poems his entire life, Larochelle decided to transform his written hobby into a performative one by exploring the world of slam poetry.
A mélange of rap and lyrical recitation, slam poetry can be individually or group-focused and poets participate in "slams," competitions similar to freestyle rap battles where judges assess performers' ability.
Larochelle's club, The Slam Poet Society, welcomes poets of all experience levels and holds monthly slams at different venues throughout campus.
The group uses the Bowdoin community as its main inspiration—a source that Larochelle finds infinitely interesting.
"Bowdoin is such a diverse campus and there's so much to write about," explained Larochelle. "I'm always trying to think of a new group or activity to write a poem about. There's always something new to go off of, and it really kind of gets you going."
Larochelle errs on the humorous side when writing his poems, and past performances include comical pieces about his four older brothers attending Bowdoin, the Maine accent and personal quirks, such always having a to-do list on hand. He also incorporates poetry into non-performance activities, such as advertisements and bonding activities for his social house.
"I also do rhyming limerick type things," said Larochelle. "For example, for orientation, I made a Reed House rap to get everyone revved up for the Inter-House Olympics. I also made a 16-line poem to advertise for Hippie Fest. I really enjoy fitting poetry into everyday aspects of life whenever I feel like writing something."
Larochelle wishes this including poetry in daily life to continue beyond Bowdoin as well; a French major with a chemistry minor, he envisions himself attending medical school during the day and participating in slams at night post-college.
For the meantime, however, he advises current Bowdoin students to do as he did and take advantage of Bowdoin's multitude of opportunities.
"I think it's foolish to go through Bowdoin for four years without trying something new when there are so many different clubs and activities," said Larochelle. "Half the reason I loved dance so much when I started it was because I had never done it before and it was so new and interesting, and the same thing happened with slam poetry."
Said Larochelle, "I found that it's possible to just jump into something and really enjoy it."