Back to School Dance. Homecoming. Sadie Hawkins. Ring Dance. Prom. Glow Dance.

Most students, whether they’re a senior or just a freshman, have probably been to at least one of these dances. But how many of these are successful?

Successful in the sense that most of the student body comes. Successful in the sense that the school raises a lot of money. Successful in the sense that the people who come stay for the duration of the dance and enjoy themselves. Looking back, JC probably succeeds about half of the time.

Dances like the Back to School Dance, Homecoming, Ring Dance, and Prom have been successful some years, while they’ve fallen short other years. What makes these dances so great some years and pitfalls in others?
It’s all about execution. If the organizers of these events were to combine the different working aspects, every dance would be a success.

The Back to School Dance works, mostly, because of its timing. The dance takes place right at the beginning of the school year (hence the name) when everyone is excited to see their friends and still has that feeling of summer. All dances should be planned for a time when not much else is going on so that students have something to look forward to, like the Friday after exams.

Another reason the Back to School Dance is successful is because of the relaxed atmosphere.  Though formal dances can be worth looking forward to, there should be a mixture of formal dances and dances that have more of a party atmosphere to appeal to everyone’s tastes.

Next in the school year is Homecoming. Homecoming works best when school spirit is emphasized. It’s the first formal dance of the year, but what really stirs excitement is Spirit Week and the football game that lead up to the dance.

Homecoming could be improved, however, in the area of decorations. A survey should be sent out to let the students choose the theme. If students were given the opportunity to choose their theme, they would be more open to the idea of the dance. Also, Homecoming decorations should be in the gym as the majority of the dance is spent inside the gym.

One of the most consistently successful dances at JC is probably Prom. Almost the entire senior class attends, plus a few students from other grades who were invited by seniors. Its success can mostly be due to the fact that it is one of the biggest, final senior privileges.

Ring Dance, however, could use a few pointers.

Most people would agree that receiving a class ring is a big deal. The dance to celebrate this, though, normally falls short of everyone’s expectations. This year, juniors won’t be having dinner at the dance, but instead of just saving this money, the juniors should use the money for an after-party like the seniors have after prom.

Most recently this year was the Glow Dance. The Glow Dance was concocted up by the senior class officers in order to raise funds for Prom. Everyone anticipated this dance to have black lights and be similar to a rave. Unfortunately, there were no black lights.

About half the student body or less attended, approximately 300 people. By the end of the dance, however, the amount of people had thinned out quite a bit. The dance raised about $3,000, but tickets for Prom will still be about $80 for seniors. Something as simple as having black lights or better publicity for the event could have attracted more of the student body.

While the Glow Dance may not have attracted the entire student body, at least it happened. The school has postponed and cancelled Sadie Hawkins dances for the past two years.

All the school needs to improve school dances is a little more creativity and input from the student body.