Attendees looked on as various groups performed at the formal.
GRACE CARDINAL/ THE QUADRANGLE
By Grace Cardinal, Editor-in-Chief
Last Friday marked the fifth annual Performing Arts Formal in Higgins Atrium. Decorated to match the theme of starry night, students danced the night away enjoying food, music and performances from their peers.
“It’s just a great opportunity for people to get together who are like-minded,” Andrew Bauer, director for performing arts, said. “It’s nice that we can have this event where they [students] can all be together and socialize because music is a very social art form.”
New to the event this year were performances by the students involved in the various groups.
“This year, we decided that there would be some performances by the students, casual impromptu performances,” Bauer said. “We’re going to do a couple of scenes from the musical Dogfight that’s coming up, and our small jazz group is going to play a little bit.”
The addition of performances was well received by the students in attendance.
“We picked some ensembles that could be easily performed for us in small groups, which is awesome,” Keira Rheinheimer, freshman performing arts student, said. “I think it’s a great idea because we get to see it [the performances] and there’s live music playing right now.”
The event proves to be popular amongst students each year, with a large portion of the students involved with the performing arts department attending with their plus-ones.
“Everybody who’s in the performing arts goes to this,” Bauer said. “They can bring somebody like a date, that person doesn’t have to be in the performing arts, but a date or a friend. In terms of numbers, we get at least 200 people coming out for this, it’s a large group of people.”
The formal planning takes over a month, and it involves securing a venue, catering, music and more.
“Every year gets easier because it kind of runs itself,” Bauer said. “We have a formula that makes it work really nicely, but you need a good six weeks to get things together.”
Just as students are involved with the planning process, they are involved with the event’s setup as well.
“This year is a little different for me because I helped set this one up,” Landen Scofield, a junior performing arts member, said. “Compared to last year, I had nothing to do with that. It was a little nicer to be behind the scenes and have more control of a different theme. We try to change it up a little bit every year.”
The event strives to give students a unique experience each year, making each formal memorable in its own way.
“I think every year, they want to make it somewhat different,” Scofield said. “We had a photo booth one year and another year we had a dance floor and just different venues that we’ve had it in. We’re doing it in the Higgins Center in the atrium there…it’s a beautiful space. We just want to have something unique every year.”
Rheinheimer said that the event’s popularity pushes those involved with planning to make the formal surpass even the highest of expectations.
“We’ve been saying, ‘We’ve got to have high standards for this year’ so that next year goes even better, and hopefully they’ll [the school] give us enough money to make it as good as possible,” Rheinheimer said. “I know a lot of people have gone to this event in the past, so I hope that keeps up. I think this is great that it’s still a popping event and I want it to stay that way.”
Scofield said that in the future, he hopes even more people will attend the event. “I would love to see more people honestly just come in, have fun, [and] bring their friends,” Scofield said. “People in the performing arts just have a fun time.”