Title: Cipher

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition

• English

• USA

• Informant Data:
  • Tiffany Park ’18
  • Age: 21
  • Birthplace: Findlay, Ohio
    • Grew up in Maryland
  • Major/Minors: Geography major and Education and Public Policy minor
  • Dance Experience prior to Dartmouth: None
  • Joined Street Soul last fall
    • Before joining Street Soul, Tiffany was a part of Sheba

Contextual Data:

• Social Context

The entire group will huddle on the stage after a show. Not every member jumps into the cipher but all members support whoever does. At some shows, Street Soul has partnered with Ujima for the cipher. This tradition is relatively new and has been occurring for about a year.

• Cultural Context

This tradition helps the group celebrate different members’ of the groups individual dance styles. An important part of the culture in Street Soul is understanding why different people dance and understanding each person’s personality and history, and this tradition reflects that.

Item:

The whole group will gather on stage and huddle around each other. People then take turns jumping into the cipher and dancing however they want. This promotes both street style and freestyle which is important as it allows individual personalities to shine through in a dance.

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

Cipher

Transcript of Associated File:

“So, a new tradition we’re looking to incorporate into our shows is the Cipher, which is a freestyle circle after the show where anyone can go in at any time and just do whatever they feel like at the moment, whatever dance moves come to you in that moment. And it’s really great because it really shows our commitment to the street styles and to freestyling, which is very, very unique to us. None of the other groups are focused on that. And it’s really great because you can see people’s personality through it. Because when you do choreography, it’s often times like, ‘Do da da da da da,’ and everyone’s like, ‘Da da da da da.’ But when you see freestyle, it’s so unique. It’s your own thing and it’s so in that moment and you can’t ever reproduce it. So it’s very, very, very special and I love it. And this time, it was really great because we were able to incorporate Uji[ma] into our Cipher. So this isn’t something that they’re normally accustomed to, but it was so great to see their own individual styles and their uniqueness.”

Informant’s Comments:

Informant believes that this is a way to highlight individual dance moves which may not happen with a choreographed dance which focuses on the group as a whole.

Collector’s Comments:

Whenever I think of people dancing on the street and free styling, I always imagine something similar to Street Soul’s Cipher. It seems like a great ending  to each show and it’s especially cool to see other dance groups jump in with their own interpretation of dancing as well. 

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Alex Chan/Sruthi Pasupuleti/Shinar Jain

Tags/Keywords:

• Dance
• Team
• Tradition
• Ritual
• Free styling
• Street style