With his unorthodox yet polished movements and sense of rhythm, Stephen Pham has become a recognized dancer both on the Internet and in the Nicholls community.

The marketing junior from Houma began dancing when he was 10 years old after watching his brother and his friend practice every night.

Pham-a fifth grader at the time-decided to start working on his own moves and got a lot of feedback from his friends. Although it was important to hear what people had to say, Pham said that dancing for himself is what is most important to him.

“I just believe that if you do anything, you should do it for yourself because then you can do it for others,” Pham said. “If you can’t do it for yourself, there is no point in doing it for others.”

Pham is a regular performer at Nicholls Relate, a monthly program that gives students and faculty an opportunity to display their talents through poetry, monologue, dancing and vocal performance. His style of dancing is mostly freestyle, but he does have a few particular moves that he likes to use every now and then.

“I don’t really think,” he said. “I just go based off of how I feel with the song.”

For Pham, inspiration comes from just about everything around him, from the way people dress, how they talk, the compliments he gets, and even the negativity.

“Everything is inspiring in a way because it just motivates me,” he said. “My biggest inspiration would have to be my crew Gung Fu. They all just keep a positive atmosphere around me and remind me to stay positive and keep doing what I’m doing.”

Although he dances to just about anything with a rhythm, Pham has taken a recent interest in dubstep, a genre of electronic music that has become increasingly popular over the past year.

“Dubstep is just awesome,” he said. “It has those build ups and breakdowns that make you go crazy. I feel like I get so much out when I dance to dubstep.”

Like most college students, Pham enjoys going out to clubs with his friends, occasionally getting a friendly dance-challenge.

“I always have fun and break down, but I mainly go to clubs to practice my regular dancing,” he said. “I get challenged occasionally, but it’s not competitive. It’s mostly just for fun. It’s funny when people try to mimic me.”

Pham’s YouTube channel, s0PHAMISH, has 127 uploads, over 1,500 subscribers and over 386,000 views. The majority of his videos, titled “A PHAMish Freestyle,” feature Pham along with his boom box dancing in locations varying from his bedroom, basketball courts, street corners and even a few familiar spots on Nicholls’ campus.

Through his YouTube channel, Pham has received tons of feedback from both viewers and famous dancers and crews.

“It just feels good that they know who I am,” he said.

One of the big-name crews to notice him was America’s Best Dance Crew season six winners I.aM.mE, a hip hop dance crew from Houston, Texas.

“I got connected with them back in the summer, and ever since, we always kept in touch,” he said. “They helped me get views on my videos, and their fans became my fans. It’s very inspirational, and I’m thankful for that.”

Pham said that he hopes his dancing will not only entertain viewers but also inspire them to do things they normally would not do.

“I really just want to show people that you can do anything that you truly want to do if you just set your mind to it,” he said. “I think that a lot of people are scared to do what they truly want to do because of what society is used to.”

Although he has big dreams regarding his dancing, Pham said that he takes everything one day at a time.

“I truly want to get a decent job to make some efficient funds to keep me stable so I can travel,” he said. “I really just want to travel the world and see every dance jam, battle, event and performance.”

Although he plans to finish school and get a job, Pham believes that there is much more to life than just getting a diploma.

“Nowadays, you just go to school to be ‘successful,’ ” he said. “I’m not saying ‘don’t go to school,’ but it doesn’t define your success. Just because you get a diploma does not mean that you’ll be successful after. You have to make your own life, and that’s just the way I see it.”