Gelato Surprise

Title: Gelato Surprise

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore- Ritual
  • English
  • United States

Informant Data:

  • Abhilasha Gokulan is 20 years old and was born in Saskatchewan, Canada. She grew up in Texas and is of Indian heritage. She is classically trained in Bharatnatyam and Odyssey, two types of classical Indian dance. She is a senior at Dartmouth College, studying economics and quantitative social science. She hopes to attend Law school.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context

This ritual takes place once a year with the entire team present. It occurs during the fall term a few weeks after new members have joined the team. The informant first took part in this tradition during her freshman fall.

  • Cultural Context

Raaz’s culture is very inclusive and the team members are very close to each other. The tradition helps returning members of the team bond with the newer member and makes the newer members feel special and included.

Item:

This tradition usually occurs before the first performance of the fall term. The captains record the team dancing during the last practice before the performance, and tell the rest of the team that the dance is not coming together and extra practice will be needed. After the practice ends, the captains lead the team to one of their rooms for “extra practice”. At one of the captain’s rooms, the new members are yelled at and given fake criticism for a few minutes, before they are surprised with gelato. The returning members of the team are aware that the “extra practice” is a trick, but the new members are surprised. After, the entire team eats gelato and other snacks, talks, and gets to know each other.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Gelato Surprise Interview

Transcript of Associated File:

“We’ll trick our freshmen into thinking that, um, we’re super unprepared for a show and that we have to do more practice or they’re about to get a lecture for being not on top of their or like not on their game. And so what we’l; usually do is the captains will go buy gelato from Moranos and have that in one of their rooms but pretend like we’re going to do another practice or they’re going to get lectured and well drive them to the room and slightly start berating them. But then surprise them with um, gelato which they really enjoy. I think it’s just one of those things that’s fun for all of the classes because it’s, the upperclassmen kind of know the secret and we’re like haha like the babies don’t know whats coming for them and like they’re all really scared, and then it’s like this big surprise in seeing their faces of like just relief of that they don’t have to dance again before the night of the show but also just kind of seeing that we do still like, appreciate what they bring to the team etc. And considering that we are um up until now a team that also just does include all Indians it kind of becomes um a way for and of also like all females, it kind of becomes a way for the girls to have a home away from home. Um and so especially as the team gets bigger and bigger it’s harder to form um, sort of that familial bond and that is one of the ways we do it. It’s just to make sure that everyone knows that even though, especially before performances when the captains and the seniors can get kind of harsh and just again its one of those things where we want the team to look good for everyones sake, just reminding them that like, Raaz is going to be family first and we do love each other and care for each other.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Informant believes the tradition helps new members see that what they bring to the team is appreciated. She also explains that leading up to performances practices can become more tense as captains become pickier in order to perfect the dance. As a result, the gelato surprise helps the team relax and bond after some stressful practices. The team also has a history of being all female and of all people having an Indian heritage, so the informant believes the team often serves as a home away from home and the surprise helps strengthen this familial bond.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The gelato surprise is a fun tradition that gives the team time to relax and get to know each other outside of practices.

Collector’s Name: Shinar Jain

Compiled/Analyzed by: Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

  • Ritual
  • Dance
  • Team

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *