Title: Kipsalana Cheer

General Information about Item:

• Customary: Verbal, Cheers

• English

• United States of America

Informant Data:

• Robert Purvis was born on May 27th, 1997 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He got into swimming because his two sisters were swimmers and inspired him to start. He started swimming year round at age 6 at his local club, the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester. He is now a sophomore at Dartmouth and is a butterfly specialist on the varsity swim team.

Contextual Data:

• Robert learned this cheer from his captains within his first month on the team. It is taught to all incoming freshmen on the team. This is a video of the team after practice teaching the freshman the day before their first met.

Item:

• The men’s team cheer reads as follows

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

• Kipsalana

Informant’s Comments:

• “No one knows what this cheer means anymore or where it originated from. I once spoke to a ’76 about it and he said the same thing, that no one knew the origin or meaning of the cheer.”

Collector’s Name: Robert Purvis

Tags/Keywords:

• folklore, swimming, water sports, men’s swimming, cheer, verbal, customary, ritual