Ritual Dance/Entrance: Bring Em Out

Context: “‘Bring em out’ is an entrance tradition I do with my high school volleyball team. It starts with all of the girls lining up in pairs, captains in the front, then seniors, then juniors, etcetera. We line up by the main doorway that leads to the main part of the gym, and they play the song “Bring Em Out” by T.I. plays over the speakers in the gym. When it gets to a certain part of the song, every pair runs out one after another, jumping up and slapping the arch of the doorway as they pass it. The JV and frosh teams are lined up on the endline and sideline as we enter, so we high five them along the way and then high five our partner over the net before running a few drills and high fiving them on the other side of the net. It’s a really fun tradition for every home game, it serves the same purpose as like a wrestling entrance so the crowd gets hyped up and all the players ready to go.”

Analysis: This is the second of two pre-volleyball game rituals given to me by my informant, and I think it shows just how prevalent folklore is in places and situations where you wouldn’t expect it. I don’t think a single person on the planet thinks of folklore when someone mentions sports and vice versa. And yet it is featured so prominently, in ways that don’t jump out as being folklore but can absolutely be considered as such after learning about the ritualistic and symbolic significance behind it. I found the comparison to wrestling entrances especially funny, but it absolutely holds true. The entrance is an extremely important part of a performance, and what is sports if not an athletic performance? The whole process of “Bring Em Out” can be compared to some of the ritualistic practices of theatre troupes, which most would agree fall under the category of folklore. I had always seen things like this and enjoyed them without ever analyzing through the lens of folklore, and I think doing so can reveal a lot.