Dartmouth Figure Skating Club Folklore

DFSC Nationals

Introduction:

Our group has spent the last six weeks collecting different items from the Dartmouth Figure Skating Club, including stories, traditions, rituals, and artifacts. The team practices 4-5 times a week at Thompson Arena, in Hanover, NH.  They compete 2-3 times during the year, and usually qualify for Collegiate Nationals in the spring. We set up an interview with each informant and met up in person. We explained the purpose of our project and asked for permission to record an audio record of each interview. During the interview, we asked the informant about his or her history with figure skating and involvement with the Dartmouth Figure Skating Club. Through natural conversation, we were able to collect many aspects of material, verbal, and customary folklore.

Overall, we interviewed fourteen informants (consisting of thirteen girls and one boy), all of whom are part of the Dartmouth Figure Skating Club. From interviews, we collected a total of sixteen folk items.

Presentation:

DFSC Foklore

Collected Items

Customary Folklore:

Cabin Camping

Skater Dates

Secret Psych

Tying Skates in Specific Order

Team Banquet

Banging Hands on Walls

Training Buddies

Team Photoshoot at BEMA

Material Folklore:

Senior Books

Paper Plate Award

Sloopy the Sloth

Green Ribbon

 

Hold the Rope

Verbal Folklore:

“Skate Low, Score High”

#SkateSparkleShine

“PASSIONFACE”

Collectors:

John Gilmore ’17, Graydon Peterson ’17, Samuel Lee ’18, Yun Yue Chen ’18, Jonathan Meng ’18

Dartmouth College

Russian 13: Slavic Folklore – Vampires, Witches, and FIrebirds

Professor Mikhail Gronas and Valentina Apresjan

Fall 2016

Link to Release Forms:

Combined Release Forms

Tags/Keywords:

Skating, DFSC, skates, Hold the Rope, Green ribbon, Banquet, Sk8ter D8tes, paper plate award