“123 Dartmouth” Chant | Dartmouth Folklore Archive

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Ziqi Wang is a male student in the Dartmouth College Class of 2018. He was born in China and emigrated to the United States when he was 9 years old; he has spent most of his life in the Hanover, NH area, having attended Hanover High School. He studies economics and environmental science at Dartmouth, and intends to pursue a career in business in Boston, MA after graduation. Ziqi has been an active member of Dartmouth’s Club Swim Team since the fall of 2014.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: The Dartmouth Club Swim Team has a variety of bonding rituals which help the team come together. This particular ritual is mandatory for all members, with the repetition helping to enforce the primacy of the team in all members heads, while establishing the hierarchy of the team, by having team leaders lead the chant in a loud, authoritative voice and having junior members echo the leaders.
Social Context: This chant was explained in a one-on-one interview with the informant at Baker-Berry Library. It is performed at the end of the meet, with the members all huddling up together in close contact, creating a close bond. Various team leaders then lead the chant, with the rest of the members following them in the chorus. The chant is also used to signal the end of practices, illustrating the transition from the intensity of practice to post-practice relaxation.

Item:

At the end of every practice, the members of the Dartmouth Club Swim Team come together in a huddle and finish with the “123 Dartmouth” chant. It is led by one or more of the team’s leaders or senior members, with the rest of the team acting as a chorus. The text of the chant is shown below.
“Team Leader: ‘Club Swim on 3! 1, 2, 3! Rest of Team: ‘Club Swim!'”

Transcript:

“We end practice every day with a simple chant which is called 123 Dartmouth. One of the seniors or older people on the team shouts ‘Club Swim on 3!’ And then counts off “1,2,3.” Then everyone else shouts ‘Club Swim!'”

Informant’s Comments:

It seems kind of simple and is pretty similar to what a lot of other teams do, but it still adds a lot of excitement and energy for the team after practices.

Collector’s Comments:

This chant does seem similar to the huddle-ending practices of many sports teams at Dartmouth, but uniquely, it is led by senior team members, rather than the coach, like in most teams, illustrating a greater level of independence. It has a vague similarity to children’s folklore, in that as Bettelheim emphasizes, repetition is used to reinforce ideas for junior members. Also, it is composed and performed exclusively by and for students. This reflects the nature of club sports, which generally do not have formal coaching staff, requiring club athletes to learn and maintain their traditions and skills independently, much as children’s folklore is used by children to teach themselves and others, as opposed to adults teaching them.

Collector’s Name: Ashwath Srikanth

Tags/Keywords: Textual Folklore, Poly-modal Folklore, Ritual, Chants, Children’s Folklore, Swimming

Dartmouth Folklore Archive