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Harrison
Caitlin Harrison
Professor Olivia Rines
UWRT-1101-002
16 March 2015
Microethnography: UNC-Chapel Hill Carolina Vibe Dance Team

Almost every little girl has been in a tutu and ballet slippers at one point in their life;
whether it was a one-time dance camp that their parents forced them into or if they devoted their
lives to the art of dancing throughout their lives, like myself. Many times parents encourage their
daughters and oftentimes sons as well to take a ballet class or two at a young age in order to
provide their child with an emotional outlet and a sense of discipline. Through my experience
studying the subject of discourse communities, I had the opportunity to observe and interview a

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:45 PM

Comment [1]:
I love your introduction!

dance team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill called Carolina Vibe in order to
analyze this discourse community. The members of this team are devoted to the art of dance and
share a bond much greater than just that of a discourse community; to an everyday onlooker such
as myself, these girls are a perfect representation of a family brought together by the love of
dancing.
In the excerpt The Concept of a Discourse Community from the book Writing about
Writing by John Swales, the author addresses the idea of a discourse community and explains
characteristics as to how they are defined. Within the world of literacy there are numerous
definitions and understandings of the term discourse community. Because of this, Swales
attempts to clarify, for procedural purposes, what is to be understood by discourse community
and, perhaps in the present circumstances, it is better to offer a set of criteria sufficiently narrow

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:46 PM

Comment [2]:
Great ending to first paragraph. Causes
good and smooth transition.

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that will eliminate many of the marginal, blurred and controversial contenders (Swales, 218).
Throughout this chapter, Swales outlines six characteristics that should be used to define a
discourse community. Before reading this article, I was never aware of the prevalence of
discourse communities that are present all around us; and to be completely honest, I wasnt really
even aware of the term.

Swales addresses the first characteristic of a discourse community as sharing a broadly

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:47 PM

Comment [3]:
I like this sentence because youre starting
to talk about what you learned not just
from the observations/interviews, but from
the project overall.

agreed set of common goals (Swales, 220). This characteristic is very apparent when we
analyze the discourse community of the UNC-Chapel Hill Carolina Vibe dance team. In the
interview conducted with Alison Fluharty, the president of Carolina Vibe, she responded to the
question regarding the goals of the team as follows; In general the major push for the UNC
dance community is to get the dance minor. Pretty much every dancer at UNC wants this to
happen, so we participate in a lot of guest shows to support the cause. Raising awareness of all
the dance groups on campus is a major goal for all of us (Fluharty). Alison was immediately
able to describe the overall goal of her team and the other teams on campus in particular, while
Megan Palmer, the second interviewee responded by describing possible goals for a dancer as an
individual. She acknowledged how some artists might feel the need to make a statement with a
work, while others might have the goal of providing just a really great piece of entertainment
(Palmer). It is clear that within the discourse community of Carolina Vibe, there is a major
emphasis on the awareness of the arts around campus and a push to introduce a dance minor at
the University. When addressing the goal of dance teams in general, the overarching goal would
be to entertain the audience with a well-choreographed performance as well as to provide

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:48 PM

Comment [4]:
Good compare/contrast!

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socialization of the dancers.

Next, Swales describes the second characteristic of a discourse community. The author

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:48 PM

Comment [5]:
Good paragraph conclusion. Sums up the
paragraph.

states, A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members

(Swales, 221). Carolina Vibes members communicate with each other in a number of ways.
First, and perhaps most importantly, the team meets three times a week for their scheduled
practice. In order for the dance to be choreographed and the dancers to each understand the
dance and be able to perform it correctly, meetings that are face to face on a weekly basis are
crucial. The members of the team are also all included in a group message via text. Through their
group text, they are able to quickly communicate with each other about upcoming events and
reminders. Within this group, there is an emphasis on the personal relationships within the team
members as well. With these methods of communication, they are able to strengthen these
relationships on a daily or weekly basis.

In addition, Swales adds a third criteria to the concept of a discourse community. A
discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and
feedback, he explains (Swales, 221). On Chapel Hills campus there is a group that was created
for this purpose entirely. Carolina Dance Initiative (CDI) is an overarching group that
coordinates all the dance companies. They hold meetings at the beginning of the year to help
freshman find dance groups, they hold a show in the spring to showcase all the dance groups,
and they also hold free classes throughout the week that anyone can attend (Fluharty). The
Carolina Dance Initiative is an excellent example of how this discourse community connects
members of the society to certain dance teams. There is also a larger-scale organization that has a

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:50 PM

Comment [6]:
This is important !!

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similar purpose. The Universal Dance Association (UDA) shares information about upcoming
dance competitions, events, and camps throughout the country (UDA). These organizations both
allow interested members of the society to connect with the dance community as a whole and
allows for information to be shared within the dance community.
Next, the fourth defining characteristic is that A discourse community utilizes and hence
possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims (Swales, 221).

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:53 PM

Comment [7]:
I love this entire paragraph. It really shines
a great light onto your community.

Swales explains that these may involve appropriacy of topics, the form, function, and
positioning of discoursal elements, and the roles texts play in the operation of the discourse
community (Swales, 221). Carolina Vibe uses a number of different genres in order to further
this communitys purpose. For example, flyers about upcoming events that the team will be
participating in are created in order to increase the awareness of these events. Social media posts
are also created for these events as well. The group has actually assigned the job of creating these
things to the members that have been elected as the social chair.
Swales then goes on to include the fifth characteristic which is In addition to owning

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:53 PM

Comment [8]:
Maybe add a few more examples?

genres, a discourse community has acquired a specific lexis (Swales, 222). In the discourse
community of a dance team, there are very obvious examples of the specific lexis that the
members use. The choreography of most dances is almost always based on the counts of 8.
Dancers use this as an underlying basis of their knowledge for which steps occur at any given
moment. Another example of the lexis that not only Carolina Vibe, but most every dance team
uses is the incorporation of French terminology. In ballet, which is the basis for every other type
of dancing, every position and movement is named after a French term. For example, the

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:55 PM

Comment [9]:
Awesome example!

Technical Manual and Dictionary for Classical Ballet defines the French word Arabesque as
a position of the body, in profile, supported on one leg, with the other leg extended behind

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 10:04 PM

Comment [10]:
Probably my favorite example.

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(Grant, 2). Battements are very commonly used movements throughout most choreography. The
knowledge of French vocabulary that a dancer acquires over his or her life is immense. Most
dancers, myself included, would agree that the understanding of these terms is critical to
understand choreography.

Lastly, Swales states that a discourse community has a threshold level of members with
a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise (Swales, 222). The various levels
of expertise can be seen throughout numerous different aspects as a dancer. The choreographer,
in most cases, is seen as the one who holds the most suitable degree of expertise. The students
would be those of lesser proficiency; hence, the reason they are being taught in the first place by
one who has greater knowledge of the content. There is also evidence of these various levels of
expertise within Chapel Hills Carolina Vibe dance team. As Megan stated in her interview,

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:56 PM

Comment [11]:
Great way to explain!

[The] President sends out the emails, manages schedules, and makes executive decisions on
issues and updates social media accounts. The artistic director manages music, choreography,
costumes, and helps the president with social media videos and promos. Secretary enforces
attendance policies. Treasurer ensures the spring showcase and deals with all monies. Social
chair manages and plans social events (Palmer). The amount of power one holds on this team in
particular is directly associated with title they have been given due to the experience and
knowledge that they have. The girls on the dance team democratically elect members to hold
these titles based on the ability that they believe their team members hold.

As was stated before, examples of discourse communities are evident all around

us everyday. During my experience analyzing the discourse community of Chapel Hills

Carolina Vibe Dance Team, I was able to identify that this groups main goal is to introduce a

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:56 PM

Comment [12]:
Kind of like a Hierarchy?

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dance minor at the University and to raise awareness of the arts around campus. The concept of
understanding various discourse communities is pertinent in order to grasp the underlying goal of
groups within all cultures.

Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:58 PM

Comment [13]:
I think you should add more about what
you learned.
Katya Cepeda 3/24/2015 9:58 PM
Comment [14]:
This is lovely and very important!

Dear Caitlin,
You wrote a fantastic first draft! I think you are very well on your way onto writing an
even better final draft of your micro-ethnography. Overall, I really enjoyed the style in which
you wrote this paper. It was amicable and personable, and that made it enjoyable to read. Also,
you provided the reader with a lot of information but you made sure not to sound like a know it
all which is always a great thing! You gave great examples and you did a good job on
incorporation your interviews into your paper. I also like how you talked about what you learned
from this project all throughout your paper. I think that in some areas, you could go a bit more in
depth or add a few more examples, just to add some more flair to your paper. You also did a
great job when it came to talking about the discourse communities and Swales! Everything you
used as examples fit in quite well and they were used very appropriately. Overall, you have
written a very enjoyable paper, and I look forward to seeing what you change or decide not to
change, as well as learning about how much more you learned. Best of luck!

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Works Cited
Grant, Gail. The Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet. 3rd ed. 1982. Print.
N.P. Universal Dance Association. Varsity Brands, Inc. Web. 16 March 2015.
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Genre Analysis: English in Academic
and Research Settings. Boston; Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print.
Fluharty, Alison. Personal Interview. 9 March 2015.
Palmer, Megan. Personal Interview. 9 March 2015.