This year, Park had one of the latest homecoming weeks in the metro area. The homecoming dance being on Oct. 14 came with its upsides and downsides. The day of the dance was pretty cold, which made pictures a bit less enjoyable. My group tried to get through them as quickly as possible, putting our jackets and sweaters back on in between shots. It was also very gray outside which brought down the mood a bit, but luckily didn’t seem to show up that much in our pictures. Usually Park seniors take their dance pictures at the Lake Harriet bandshell. However, seeing as it’s currently under construction, we seniors had to find alternative locations. My group took pictures near the bandshell with the lake in the background, which wound up turning out very pretty. 

We got to the dance pretty early, which it seemed that a lot of people did. There were a good amount of people there, although I could barely see any of them because of the horrendous lighting. The field house was extremely dark except for the harsh flashing strobe-like lights emitting from the DJ area. It might not have bothered some people, but it gave me a headache. The music didn’t make the experience much better. Although the DJ played a few classics like “The Cupid Shuffle” and “24K Magic,” a lot of the other songs during the first hour and a half left a lot to be desired. A lot of them I felt like I couldn’t dance to — not that many people at the dance were actually dancing. The majority of people were doing one of two things; either standing around talking, or jumping in a makeshift ‘mosh pit’ (to call it a mosh pit feels insulting to hardcore and metal genres that actually have mosh pits). This is really no surprise, as this is my third homecoming that has involved a group of people standing in a group jumping up and down. The combination of the flashing lights, the sub-par music and the jumping craziness was a bit much for me, so I wound up leaving around 8:45.

As far as the theme goes, I have mixed feelings. Students voted in a google form on what theme they wanted, and the winning idea was ‘Red Carpet’. How Barbie didn’t win I have no idea, but red carpet is better than some of the other ideas on the list, such as under the sea or carnival. I was curious leading up to the dance how the student council would execute the theme, as the prom theme last year was ‘Under the Stars’ and the only decorating they did was a star and moon balloon arch. When you walked into the homecoming dance this year, there was a tunnel-type entrance to the field house that included a red carpet. It made me feel like I was a celebrity walking into a movie premiere. Compared to the prom theme, this was a lot better, but I am sensing that when the student council asks us to vote on a theme for the dance, they mean a theme for the entrance. I feel a bit ripped off when they have us vote for a theme and get everyone excited about it just for the decorations to be 1% of the experience. 

Although a lot of this review sounds negative, the dance really wasn’t that bad. Compared to my sophomore homecoming, when the ‘dance’ was a DJ on the football field with a water station  near the front, this year’s dance was much more enjoyable. To a certain extent, I think we all realize by now that a lot of our complaints about these dances are just part of what dances at Park are, and the actual dance itself is not what makes the experience fun—it’s what you do before and after, and who you spend it with that makes the night one to remember.