General Information about Item:

• Genre (Subgenre): Customary Folklore (Dance)
• Language: English
• Country/State: United States/New Hampshire

Informant Data:

• Senior (Class of 2018) from New Jersey
• First participated in trips his freshman year (Fall 2014)
• Led climb and hike trip during Fall 2017 term

Contextual Data:

• Social context: The Salty Dog Rag is a customary dance led by trip leaders and Croo members and performed by large groups of first year students shortly after they assemble at Robinson Hall after arriving to campus. Most of the students do not know each other or any of the upperclassmen.
• Cultural context: The dance is supposed to help first-year students embrace the novelty and unfamiliarity of college in a welcoming and supportive atmosphere, as most people (especially upperclassmen) look silly performing the dance.

Item:

• The Salty Dog Rag is a whimsical dance that involves a lot of awkward motion while silly music is playing loudly.

Transcript of Informant Interview:

• “You do the Salty Dog Rag before even meeting your trip leaders, so most of the freshmen don’t really know any upperclassmen, and they’re just dancing in a large mob.”

Informant’s Comments:

• The informant highlighted the Salty Dog Rag as a sort of introduction to trips, wherein new members were initially exposed to what is probably the most iconic dance of trips lore.

Collector’s Comments:

• The informant fondly recalled both his memory of observing first-years perform the dance this fall and his memory of performing the dance as a first-year himself.

Collector’s Name: Abhishek Bhargava

Tags/Keywords:

• Customary, Tradition, Song/Dance, Salty Dog Rag