Deviating from the norm: Winter formal to be held on campus due to lack of funds

This year’s winter formal, themed “A Whole New World,” will take place tomorrow from 7:30-10:30 p.m. on campus.

The dance commission is aiming to save money with this change in location, since it has been losing money with the off-campus formals that started three years ago.

Junior head dance commissioner Nicole Wong said that each dance that dance commission runs, including Homecoming, formal and spring fling, has its own budget, and the budget for this dance is around $11,000.

According to Wong, a couple years ago, the commission didn’t include the cost of food into ticket pricing, causing the tickets to be cheaper than they should have been and resulting in a deficit.

The administration has provided the dance commission with a fixed schedule for the locations of all dances for the next few years. The school will have one off-campus winter formal every two to four years.

Wong said that the ticket prices for this year’s winter formal, which started at $40 with ASB and $45 without, were originally cheaper, but based on an estimate of 350 to 400 students attending, the dance commission would have lost money if the tickets were sold at that cheaper price.

Last year, tickets to Hyatt Santa Clara started at $50 and $55. The 2016 formal at San Jose Country Club started at $40 and $45, and the 2015 formal at the San Jose Children’s Discovery Museum, formal’s first off-campus venue, started at $30 and $35.

In hopes of inspiring students to enjoy the location as much as an off-campus venue, Wong said that the dance commission has hired a professional decorator this year.

“In previous years, we’d just buy decorations for the dance and hang them up randomly,” she said. “But this year we have a professional, so the decorations can completely transform the gym.”

Wong said that hues of pink, orange, aqua and purple will drape the walls of the large gym to fit the theme of “A Whole New World,” and black curtains will cover the sides of the basketball courts. There will also be an Arabian-themed lounge at the event.

The Large Gym will host the main part of the dance and the dance studio will house the games, including ping-pong tables, air hockey and electronic basketball arcade games. In the small gym, the designated food area, tables of Scoopzilla ice cream will surround a central gazebo, which will hold tacos catered by food truck chain “Madd Max.”

This year, along with the usual photo booth at the dance, the dance commission is implementing a new style of photography.

Upon entering the gym, students will walk along a red carpet, and photographers from the company Now and Forever Studios will act as their “paparazzi.” An “X” will be placed on the floor and students can quickly pose in front of a green screen.

“It’s like snap and go,” Wong said. “It’s not planned where each person signs up for a slot.”

All photos will be posted online after the event, and students can purchase them without having to fill out paperwork.

“Instead of buying the pictures ahead of time, they’ll just take your picture no matter what,” senior dance commissioner Kirstin Kruka said. “You can decide whether or not you want to buy it afterwards.”

Wong said that the dance is not a step down from any other winter formal just because it is on campus.

“I feel like people should treat this formal like any other formal,” she said. “Even though it’s a different thing, we just wanted to have some change and something different for the school.”

However, some students weren’t happy with the ticket prices, especially considering that the dance is on campus.

“It’s expensive, but I understand why it’s expensive,” freshman Victoria Tso said. “A lot of my friends are choosing not to go because they think the tickets are too pricey.”

Tso said that she will attend the event this year, but she will not go to future winter formals if she feels that it is not worth the price.

Kruka hopes that students will not be deterred from attending solely due to the dance’s location.

“It should be really fun,” she said. “We’re hoping that people come out because it’s still winter formal.