School dances like homecoming, courtwarming and prom have been a staple of the highschool experience for a long time. Movies and shows glamorize the dances, giving the younger crowd high expectations that are often never met. 

   “I think the idea of it is fun but not the actual dance. I feel like they do a really good job decorating, but they don’t focus so much on the actual dance part,” sophomore Giada Greene said.

   The dance itself is usually the more dreaded part of the night, considering the fact that getting ready with friends, taking pictures, and eating is when most people have fun. 

   “The pre-dance activities are what you really look forward to, not the dance,” sophomore Emilee Hiltion said. 

   Spirit days, planning, and shopping is much more fun than the dance itself and is really what is actually looked forward to when thinking about the weeks leading up to the dance. 

   “I think they are fun but it gets boring after a while and it’s more fun just to get ready with your friends before because the actual dance can become boring since all you do is stand there with your friends or jump around,” Hilton said.

   The school dance is more of a “jump around” rather than the actual dancing commonly portrayed in movies. Jumping around to music can be fun, but after a while, it becomes tiring and hot. 

“It’s hot, it can smell, and it becomes crowded. Once there is a dance circle, you can’t get in to see anything or do anything, you’re just standing there,” Hilton said.

   As the room starts to fill up, it’s harder to get to the middle where people seem to be actually having fun and jumping around. The air eventually starts to become thick from all the body heat and swear which just makes most everyone feel gross. It’s hard to feel like you’ve got your money’s worth when you’re drenched in sweat and uncomfortable.

   “I think they shouldn’t change the price on Wednesday because we aren’t really getting fifteen dollars out of the dance. I don’t think the dance is worth us all paying $15 later in the week,” Greene said.

   Cabinet raises the prices for tickets towards the middle of the week to try and promote students to buy tickets earlier, but some think that the dance isn’t even worth that much money due to the experience not living up to expectations. 

Not knowing the date of the dance until only a week or two prior is not very convenient when it comes to ordering dresses or suits. 

   “They don’t release the date to the public very early so then I don’t know when to buy a dress,” Greene said.

   Around the time of homecoming, many companies fail to ship dresses in time due to the high demand. Knowing the date and theme of the dance much earlier would make a huge difference for students. Without knowing the date until a few weeks before the dance, students cannot plan based on the weather which would be ideal since they are usually waiting outside to get into the dance. 

   “I feel like they should open more doors for the dance because it’s so cold when we wait outside in line,” Hilton said. 

   When waiting to enter the dance, students wait in line at the backdoors of the school while all the tickets get checked. Opening the front doors, and even the athletic entrance would make the lines go down much quicker and prevent students from standing out in the cold. The line is usually the most unpleasant part of the dance and is a common factor in preventing people from attending. 

   “They should have photo booths and some sort of games to give us more things to do. The playlist this year was so bad. Last year’s homecoming, the cabinet put a poll on instagram to recommend songs and that made the playlist good. Now they play the same song over again every single dance,” Greene said. 

   With repetitive songs and only being able to jump or stand around and talk, the dance becomes boring. With photo booths, game areas, and other activities would give students much more to do. This would  not only justify the cost and the time invested but also prolongs the excitement and engagement. With a few changes, our dances would transform from an average dance into an event that’s memorable and worth it.