“We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
‘Cause your friends don’t dance and if they don’t dance
Well, they’re no friends of mine”

The lyrics above are the first verse of the wonderful song “Safety Dance.” This song is one of my favorites, and I would love to hear it at a school dance sometime. Oh wait, I go to Nashoba.

I have no problem with Nashoba as a school. I am already over halfway done with my senior year here and I have had a wonderful learning experience. I do, however, have a problem with school dances.

I have tried to get into school dances, I really have. I have gone to as many as I could, and I have noticed a lot of recurring issues when I go. For one thing, there is almost no incentive for going. Many of the dances I went to did not have any food. The exception to this would be the Spring Fling, at which a buffet was provided. 

Something I really hate is that, except for a few rare cases, the music is usually pretty bad. Without decent music, no one wants to dance. Many of the songs that are requested are not even played. To make matters worse, the inferior songs that are played are repeated incessantly.

Finally, and probably most importantly, school dances often lack a theme. Even when there is a theme, the decorations are so lackluster, you have to scratch your head and wonder what the theme is supposed to be. At the last dance I went to, I arrived ten minutes after the set start time, and I had to help set things up!  There are the exceptions like the Neon Dance, which featured fun and unique decor, but the majority of dances do not live up to that standard.

With all these problems, it’s important that action is taken to fix Nashoba’s dances. It is important to note that many teachers and class officers put a lot of time and hard work into the dances. Both the Spring Fling and Neon Dance were pleasantly surprising, as they departed from the disappointing norm. The problems listed above can be fixed. It’s not an easy task to put a dance together, but there are many easy improvements that will increase dance attendance significantly. Merely having a few snacks available will give people another reason to come to a dance. Music shouldn’t be repeated more than twice. Lastly, more time should be spent on decor.

These issues must be addressed if our dances are going to be successful. It should come as no surprise that attendance is low because the dances are currently so flawed. If they’re improved, it’s very likely that more people will show up and happily join in the fun.