Written by: Kate Di Guglielmo, Editor
BOOMING: The Poly Homecoming Dance had kids “pushing” for fun.
The Bear Festival Homecoming Dance saved the hopes of many students when it comes to future dances. The dance had a festival theme with each grade assigned to a specific festival (whether they chose to adhere to that festival was their choice); freshmen had Lollapalooza, sophomores had Stagecoach, juniors had Rolling Loud, and seniors had Coachella. There were games, dancing, and lots of fun! There were students who complained about the music at the first dance of the year; however, many of those same students displayed some interesting behavior at this dance. Students were literally pushing and shoving each other in what appeared to be an attempt to mimic their view of a ¨high school dance¨.
The actions displayed throughout the dance clearly gave an example of the social separation COVID-19 has created throughout the student body. With the many missed, ¨normal high school experiences¨, many struggled to find their place in the dance setting. This inconvenience led to a feeling of awkwardness as music started to play and students shyly began to congregate in the middle of the dance floor. Not remembering how to initiate the dancing, students stiffly stood in the center waiting for social cues on what to do. ¨It was awkward towards the beginning of the dance, but as the dance went on it got better,” Abbie Griggs, a junior at Poly High School explained.
Although the beginning of the dance was awkward, those who remembered how a school dance was supposed to be began to help those who didn’t. With a few shoves and a good song, the dance was a success! The lights were flashing and the music was blasting as Poly High School students began to slowly sink into the dancing euphoria they were used to (or in the freshmen and sophomores case, not used to). Students jumped up and down to the beat of many throwback songs while occasionally creating a circle for students to take turns and dance in. Overall, the good outweighed the bad, and agreeing with Poly student Jenna Largent (11), a lot of students believe this dance “was so much fun”, and a big success.