Title: Dinner Discussions

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

All members of the team attend the dinner discussions. They occur a few times throughout each term during the evening. This tradition is relatively new and has been happening for about two years.

• Cultural Context

By participating in these dinner discussions, Street Soul aims to foster a community outside of practices beyond dance shows and rehearsals. These discussions are more intimate and personal and allow each member to get to know each other better, which translates to them performing well as a group. These discussions reflect on the culture of Street Soul. Street Soul tries to be an inclusive group and be open to all members, but the culture of the group also focuses heavily on history and understanding the meaning of dance.

Item:

Group members get together, have dinner and discuss a pre-selected topic. Topics are usually related to social justice and dance. These groups discuss these topics to understand why they dance and the history of the group. The discussions also allow freshmen to understand the group on a deeper level and get to know other members.

 

Associated Video:

Dinner Discussions

Transcript: 

“An important group tradition that we’ve recently started is dinner discussions. So basically, we get together have dinner, and there’s usually a topic that we discuss, usually related to social justice and dance. And the reason why that is important is we need to understand why we dance, we need to understand the history of where we come from. And it’s really great for new members because it gives them a perspective on those who have come before them and for themselves, too: why they dance and why they do what they do.”

Collector’s Comments:

I think this is a very intimate way to really introduce the new members of Street Soul to their dancing beyond just physical practices. By providing the context and history of their group and their purposes to each member, I think each member can then have a greater appreciation for their art.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

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

Tags/Keywords:

• Dance
• Team
• Tradition
• Ritual