“Dodecs, Rah Rah!”- Huddle

Title: “Dodecs, Rah Rah!” – Huddle

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition
  • English
  • USA
  • Informant Data:
    • Tara Joshi ’18
    • Age: 21
    • Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
    • Joined Dodecs Freshman Fall
    • Current President

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context

All members of the group participate in this ritual. Even if a member is not participating in the performance, if they are present they will participate. This ritual occurs before every performance the group has. The informant does not know exactly when this ritual began, but believes it has been occurring for a very, very long time (from before she joined the team). She first experienced this ritual her first performance with the group.

  • Cultural Context

Before performances, the Dodecaphonics come together one final time as a group and prepare themselves together. The huddle with all group members reflects the inclusive culture the group has. It also reflects how close the members of the group are.

Item:

Before every performance, group members will get in a circle or huddle. One person will get in the middle of the huddle on their knees. All group members will put one hand in the center of the circle, on top of the head of the person in the middle. The President will give a speech to get the group excited and ready. The president will finish by saying Dodecs and everyone in the group will say Rah Rah!

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

Rah

Transcript

“The main thing we do before a show is called Rah, and it’s been around for as long as I can remember and probably way before that. Before every show, we will get in a circle and someone will be the person in the middle that kind of takes everyone’s hand on their head. So we put our hands in the middle and the president will give a little speech about what we’re about to do. And it’s kind of like a pep talk, hype kind of thing to get everyone in that performance space.

Informant’s Comments:

Tara says that this ritual has been around for a very long time and is their main pre-show ritual and will probably be around for as long as the Dodecaphonics is a group at Dartmouth. She believes the ritual helps the group get excited, hyped up, energized, and also focused for the performance.

Collector’s Comments:

As their main way to hype the group up before a show, the Rah is an incredibly important tradition for the Dodecs. It’s an important time to get everyone in the zone and to focus on their goal of giving an incredible performance.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Alex Chan/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

  • Singing
  • Acapella
  • Team
  • Huddle
  • Pre-Performance
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