Title: Lila McKenna

General Information about Item:

• Pre-Performance Ritual – American
• Lila McKenna
• Student, Decibelles Acapella Group
• English
• Cleveland, Ohio
• May 24, 2019

Text:

This pre-performance ritual is a “Shake Out” performed by all members of the Decibelles before a performance. During the ritual, all of the members shake out their body parts. While the members are shaking their body parts, the president is telling them how prepared they are and how well they are going to do during the performance.

Context: The Dartmouth Decibelles Acapella group was formed in 1974, making it the oldest female acapella group on campus. Lila McKenna has been a part of the Decibelles since 2016. She explains that she has participated in “Shake Out” since her freshman year, though her role within the group has shifted. When she began, she derived confidence from the ritual, but now she feels like she uses the ritual to instill confidence in those around her.

Meaning and Interpretation (Informant): This ritual ensures that the group performs as a unified whole. Lila talked about how they all lead crazy lives, and if they just showed up and started performing, it wouldn’t go well. This pre-performance ritual ensures that they are relaxed, calm, and united, allowing them to optimize their performance.

Meaning and Interpretation (Collector): This ritual represents a transition state in van Gessep’s Rite of Passage. They are leaving the mindset of their crazy, stressful lives and entering a calmer state that can focus not on external stressors but their music. In this state of focus and relaxation, Lila explains how their performance is optimized. Thus, this ritual helps them transition into the performance mindset and incorporate into their role in the group as a singer. The fact that this ritual takes place directly before the performance is important because this is the exact timing when the transition must take place so that they are fully incorporated into their role by the time the show starts.

As for the ritual itself, I believe the fact that the singers are loosening up their bodies in the hopes of having a more laid back, loose mindset before the performance begins reflects Frazer’s Law of Similarity. The players are loosening their bodies up hoping that this looseness will be mirrored in their mindset, which will allow them to have an optimal performance where they are calm and confident.

Collector’s Name: Maddy Schoenberger 

Tags/Keywords:

• Arts
• Acappella
• Pre-Performance Rituals