An upperclassmen Homecoming dance with an “Under the Sea” theme should bring excitement to students walking into the room as the party gets ramped up. However, while last year’s dance was a huge success, this year’s rendition hosted by WA Student Council (STUCO) on Saturday, Oct. 21, failed to live up to many’s expectations.
There were a multitude of problems with this year’s dance. For starters, the new DJ didn’t seem to fit the vibe of the dance. He wasn’t good at getting us hyped up and onto the dance floor. Many of the songs that usually would be played to move people onto the dance floor, like the “Cotton Eye Joe” and the “Cha-Cha Slide”, were played before the vast majority of students even arrived at the event. In addition, the songs he played while everyone was there just did not fit the atmosphere. While I can’t say the same for everyone, I personally didn’t even know a bunch of the songs that were played, and many of the songs I did know were not party songs.
When a good song was played, the moshpit that formed was fun; with everyone jumping up and down, singing at the top of their lungs. However, as soon as the song ended, a non-party song came on, killing the hype that was built up.
The dance was originally scheduled to end at 10:00. However, because of these issues, many students left the dance early. I left around 9:30, and a large number of people had left even earlier.
Despite all of the issues with the dance, STUCO did an amazing job promoting the event and setting up the cafeteria. The promotional video that was on the WABC morning announcements got the attention of students, prompting a seemingly strong attendance. Additionally, the cafeteria was set up aptly, with jellyfish decorations hanging from the ceiling and streamers on the walls to create a cool backdrop for photos.
In order to meet the high expectations from the successful dance from a year ago, we would need a new DJ who can actually get people excited and onto the dance floor, and a better playlist with recognizable party songs to keep the festivities rolling.
