Bringing to a close a chilly January, San Marcos High School held its Winter Formal Dance at UCSB’s The Hub. The evening of Saturday the 31st, The Hub was bathed in lights of bright blue, pink, and green. The forum was steadily filled with students from every grade, some adorned in navy blue ensembles, and even a classic black tux was seen here and there. Friends, freshmen Nova Forman and Angela Zhang, who attended the winter formal together, said that picking an outfit for the theme of “northern lights” was a bit difficult – they’d decided to adorn a ruffled blue bohemian style and a rose pink sheath gown — but no matter what they were wearing, they were ready for a good time.
Forman expressed this positivity saying, “It’s more fun than homecoming.” Why more fun than homecoming? While the Homecoming fall event focused around a football game with semi-formal attire to rally students in school pride, the winter formal was simply a dance for students to let go of new class jitters or relieve some stress. Zhang agreed, noting that, “The energy is better, it’s more hype,” claiming that a simple struggle for outfits was worth the experience of letting loose with friends.
The music however, was truly the centerpiece of the dance. The way it moved people was almost hypnotic. As at many school dances, it started with an awkward tension in the air, the early arrivals lingering near the drinks, glancing around waiting for friends or trying to act casual. Despite peoples’ initial apprehension, it certainly was a surprising sight when the first lines of “I Love It” rang out, an extended line of about 60 people, seemingly waiting for the go-ahead to dance, suddenly disbanded and simultaneously charged straight for the dance floor. Students jumped up and down swaying to the beat of the mini- mosh pit that had been created. The waves of people spread to create a dance circle which stayed empty in the middle, but still prevailed as people cheered searching for space to move. As the night went on, the dance floor pulsed with bright lights playing everything from Pitbull to ABBA’s always classic “Dancing Queen”. Students danced the night away laughing and swaying in the humid air of the packed room.
“I love to dance. I’ve been to all the ones that San Marcos has had since I was a freshman,” said junior Chloe Bellamy.
It really didn’t matter what kind of genre the DJ played, everyone celebrated as a unit. The Winter Formal, while frosty at first, ended up being a clash of various colors, and voices proving that even a cold night doesn’t bother a heated crowd.
