All About The Glacial Gala

Winter Formal is tomorrow and all the students are very excited about it. There’s a new location and the DJ is supposed to be great. We all know what happens when you show up to a dance, but what about the planning and preparation that goes into it before then?

Past Winter Formal Experiences

With the Winter Formal coming up, students are preparing for the annual dance except for this year it has a little twist to it that students are excited about.

“It’s at the atrium this year, that’s what is making me want to go. Our school’s never done that before.” Said senior Katrina Toll.

This year the dance is different from last year, however looking back on Madison’s Winter Formal from 1987 a lot of things have changed. Students now do a traditional all-day-long date and then end the night with a 3-hour long dance.

“We have this massive production now that takes you from 9 in the morning until midnight, but I think the dances themselves are quite similar.” Said Mr. Reeser.

While there are some changes to the annual Winter Formal, one thing students are looking forward to this year is the DJ. The senior class officers have decided that since the DJ was such a hit last year, they will be bringing him back again this year.

“We have the same DJ from the Winter Formal last year. I don’t know what tricks he has up his sleeves this year, but we are excited to see.” Said Mrs. Miller

What Goes Into The Dance?

There’s asking to the dance, dress shopping, buying the flowers, and trying on tuxes but what goes on behind the scenes. It’s a new year so it’s a new location. Since the dance is at the Atrium it’s going to give a more formal feeling.

“All of us wanted it to be somewhere other than the high school because it’s always at the high school.” Said Senior Seth Sampson.

Many names were suggested so what could the dance have been called?

“We had names like Jingle Bell Jam, Winter Wonderland, and The Snow Shindig.” Senior Bridger Bair said.

There is a lot of time going into planning a dance because of all the aspects. Everyone wants their dance to be the one that stands out from all the others.

“We probably meet every other week as senior class officers. We started talking about the dance way back in September. We wanted this dance to stand out and be remembered.” Mr. Forbes said.

The Atrium

Usually, Madison dances are in the school’s lunchroom but this year student officers have decided to switch it up and go to the Atrium at Hemming Village. We asked a few students what they think about the change.

BB: “Do you like that it’s at the Atrium instead of the High School?”

Senior Anna Nate: “I think it will be better because it’s a different place. It’s kinda nice to have it at a different place.”

Junior Eric South: “ I think its cool I like the idea of it.”

Junior Madison Jenson: “ I think it’s cool that it’s at the Atrium.”

It’s nice to get to go to different places for dances and see what the student class officers came up within a different location for the dances.

1. “ Do you think that all dances should be somewhere different?”

Nate: “ I like that we have a verity so I think if it’s affordable we should have it in different places.”

South: “I think that if we did half of them here and half of them there would be fine.”

Jenson: “ I think that one or two at the high school is fine, but it’s cool that it’s different. Like how last winter it was at the Burton Elementary that was fun too.”

The First Step: Asking

With Winter formal approaching, students are in the process of asking and answering their dates.

“I do lame puns, that’s how I ask all the girls”, Senior Samuel Cook said.

Asking someone to the dance is the first step and can also be the hardest part because you want to ask in a way that is going to be memorable and that they won’t forget.

“I was trying to figure out a way to ask her to the dance, something creative, something that I   haven’t really thought of before”, Junior CJ Rawlins said.

With the dance being at the beginning of December this year, the clock was ticking to ask.

“I prepared but I didn’t get to asking her until kinda the last minute,” Senior Karson Hastings

Boys V.S. Girls

If you’ve ever been to a dance, you know it’s not just about twirling the night away. A lot of preparation goes into getting ready and looking good. Boys seem to take a shorter time than girls.  

“It takes me about an hour,” said Junior Zach Martin

When Junior Carter Sharp heard how long it takes Martin to get ready, he was appalled.

“I would say [it takes me] fifteen to twenty minutes.”

Girls, on the other hand, take a drastically longer time. Senior Lizzy Woodruff shared some tips for how she cuts down her time getting ready.

“Depending on what I want to do with my hair, it takes me about two and a half-ish hours so I have to start getting ready before the day date. If I curl my hair before, I can just put on my dress and wait for the guys to show up. That takes about half an hour, tops.”

The Day Date

In addition to the actual dance event, a huge part of dances here at Madison is the day date. Groups of couples go out for a few hours before the dance and participate in fun activities planned out days or even weeks prior to the dance. But for junior Matt Butler, it’s not nearly as stressful as that.

“We just met after school one day,” said Butler, “it took maybe 15 minutes to plan the whole thing.”

For some people it may take 15 minutes to plan the day date, and for some it may take 15 hours, but regardless of how much time you spend planning, the day date is sure to be something to rely on no matter which dance you’re going to.

“Some dances I’m skeptical about, like if it’s going to be good or not, so I look forward to the day date more, but for Winter Formal, I’m more excited for the dance for sure.” said junior Jessica Appell.

But whether or not you’re more excited for the date or the dance, if you ask senior Cooper Poll, the day date is a critical part of the Winter Formal experience.

“I think the day date is actually super important, because that’s where I feel like if you’re asking someone that you haven’t really talked to a lot before, that’s where you get to know them. So I feel like the day date is really important in that way, and it just sets off the mood for the rest of the day.”