Members of SNU Cheerleading Squad

While cheerleading emerges from a sports context, today in Korea, a different genre of cheering has developed in which a distinctive type of choreography is performed onstage in front of an audience. This form of cheerleading involves synchronized arm movements and flamboyant costumes and differs from the traditional cheerleading that involves acrobatics and stunts. The cheerleading squads in Korea are similar to dance crews, which are the center spectacle themselves rather than a source of side entertainment at sports events. The purpose of these squads is to encourage audience participation inspire school spirit.

While many universities, such as Yonsei and Korea University, have cheerleading squads, until recently SNU has not had one. As of this past March, SNU finally has a cheerleading squad of its own.

First proposed last August, SNU’s 40-member cheerleading quad is guided by the principle of “becoming one.” A members explains the motivation for the formation of the squad: “I went to the festivals held at other schools and realized that the student body felt like one collective unit. We decided to start the SNU cheerleading squad to create that unity at our school.”

The SNU cheerleading squad made its debut at the 2016 Freshman Retreats for the colleges of Business Administration, Humanities, and Agriculture and Life Sciences, and plans to perform at various events within the school including intramural sports competitions.

Although the squad is now flourishing, it had a rocky start. When they started the SNU cheerleading squad, some of the students thought that a cheerleading squad would not mesh well with SNU’s character. A member reflected: “After our successful performance at the 2016 Freshmen Retreats, people began to know more about us and our worries started to disappear.”

Since it is still new, the members hope that the students will take notice of the SNU cheerleading squad. We look forward “becoming one,” being inspired by the SNU cheerleading squad’s upcoming performances.

Written by: Yu Young Jin coin1234@snu.ac.kr
Proofread by: Professor Travis Lamar Smith tlsmith@snu.ac.kr