Title: Alcohol Superstition

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Magic Superstition

• English

• USA

Informant Data:

• Dami Apoeso is 21 years old and was born in Hartford Connecticut. He grew up in the Bronx, New York City and currently lives in Spring Valley, New York. He is majoring in computer science. He danced for approximately 6 years in a summer camp before joining Sheba his sophomore year at Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context

This superstition applies to all members of the team. This superstition has existed since an incident in which a previous member consumed alcohol prior to a show, threw up, and later fell during a performance. The superstition is regarding performances.

• Cultural Context

Sheba is a dance team that takes its performances very seriously and this is reflected in this superstition. The team takes precautions to ensure that its performances go well.

Item:

Before performances, team members are banned from consuming alcohol in any form. This is because the team believes that if someone consumes alcohol, they will have bad luck during the show. This could range from messing up a dance, falling, forgetting a dance, or bringing bad luck upon the whole team.

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

Alcohol Superstition

Transcript of Associated File:

Informant: “Don’t drink before the performance. I say that all the time because you will fall, or you will throw up, or bad things will happen to you if you drink. Just don’t do it. Don’t play pong. Don’t drink at meetings. Just no alcohol. 

Collector: “Are there uh stories of people who didn’t follow this?”

Informant: “Yeah this was before my time but I know a member had a little to drink before the show and did throw up during the show and on another separate occasion did fall during the show as well. That was when we realized that its probably not a good idea to drink before a show.”

Informant’s Comments:

The informant strongly believes in this superstition and says he warns all of the new members of this superstition before their first performance.

Collector’s Comments:

This is an interesting superstition. Part of it seems as though it is common sense because when one drinks often times they lose control of their physical actions and can become nauseous. However, the fact that the team believes if one person drinks it can bring bad luck open the entire team and the entire performance is interesting.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

• Dance
• Team
• Superstition
• Alcohol