By Mirabai Rickert

We suck at dancing. I hate to tell you this but our ability to jive, shake, groove, and generally boogie down on the dance floor has severely deteriorated through the generations. Even my six years of hip hop classes aren’t enough to crack open the time capsule, the wealth of information gold, that is “social dances.” Teenagers are showing less and less enthusiasm for the high school dances of old, and social isolation is on the rise. To avoid this cosmic disconnection, we must follow in the dance steps of yore to reclaim our very human love of dance.

My parents were telling me the other day of their vast catalog of dancing-based exploits. For example, my mom’s high school hosted a dance every single Friday night, after the football game. Kids would show up in their regular clothes to the school cafeteria. While sometimes it was school sponsored and more formal, like HOCO or the Sadie Hawkin’s dance (where the girls asked the guys), a lot of times school clubs would host and students even DJed for the night. And everybody just… danced. There was no pressure to really ‘make the night count’ because it happened so often. Although there were always a few wallflowers, the dance floor was completely packed.

I think there is so much riding on school dances for them to be the greatest nights of our lives because they only happen once in a blue moon. Countless movies, like High School Musical, The Prom, or even the Netflix series Wednesday treat school dances as a sacred ritual only to be discussed by candlelight or as a seance to summon the, well, school spirits. But all this hubbub around school dances have been completely for naught, especially at MHS. I’m not sure if you all noticed, but there was a distinct lack of a Winter Formal this year. Speaking to our student council members gave me the insight that Mr. Oldenberg would not let us have one, since they lost so much money at last year’s Winter Formal. This was due to the fact that nobody showed up. Nobody wanted to come. After years of Winter Formal attendance declining, student council chose a theme that irked even more people.  My classmates’ biggest gripe about it was that the theme, Rodeo, turned the dance into a Winter Informal. People had gotten so hyped about fancy dresses and going out to eat at a nice restaurant that they felt like the theme was holding them back from a truly wonderful night.

Except, the theme was on point. At least through the lens of hosting a social dance. Historically, rodeos have been places where people would gather not only to watch races and people fall off the backs of rambunctious bulls, but also to dance. How many of you remember the line dance unit from freshman gym class? That was exactly what people were doing, for fun, at rodeos. These types of dances were known widely by everyone who came to the rodeo and it was expected that if you were there, you were gonna dance.

Then, how did these common knowledge dance steps turn into something that nobody remembered? How did an event that was rooted so deeply in the culture of any given place become irrelevant? How did teens and young adults shift from being the target demographic of clubs and nights out to being isolated, alone, and scared to dance?

I would argue that our general knowledge of dancing has diminished vastly over generations. In our class, I conducted a small survey about our school dance habits, only to learn that one out of the 22 people I asked were ‘very likely’ to dance at our school dances, besides moshing. And this staggering statistic made me realize just how uninformed students are in the concept of social dances. The dance units, in gym class, are widely unpopular and have been shortened and shortened to appeal to the masses. If you look through time, the knowledge of partner and group dancing has almost completely gone away. Knowing how to waltz, or polka, or participate in any such coordinated dance is now considered archaic.

Although, there’s plenty of evidence saying that our style of dance hasn’t become less social, it’s simply shifted to match the music tastes of young people. The Cha Cha Slide, the Cupid Shuffle, and the Macarena are all timeless examples of dances that most people of our generation know. However, it’s glaringly obvious that these are also tragically simple. The Cha Cha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle outrightly state the dance steps in their lyrics and the Macarena is mostly arms. You could also observe TikTok and Youtube Shorts dance trends, the copy and paste choreography performed to a trending soundbite, and cite that as teenagers’ new style of dance. This phenomena has a complex relationship with what’s considered a social dance. A lot of these videos are not done through a love of dance, but rather a hope of increasing your view or follower count. Yet, many trends bring people together, even if it’s over a screen. I can think of plenty of times when kids were performing synchronized dances that corresponded to a popular audio at school dances, rehearsals, or even just in the hallway. It may not be a mass effort to turn the Arlington Wing into the next set for High School Musical, but it’s a start.

Part of the reason I find dance to be so inescapable, no matter where you look in history, is how beneficial it actually is for your health. Not only does it reduce one’s risk for cognitive diseases like dementia and Parkinson’s, but studies affirmed by Harvard Medical School show that dancing reduces stress, releases serotonin, a hormone that translates to feeling good, and improves cognitive skills like decision making and motor coordination. Dancing combines the physical world with mental flexibility. It’s especially good at creating neural connections, literally making you a faster thinker. Bringing us together socially is one thing, but dancing also makes you smarter, more coordinated, and happier.

Throughout history, people have prioritized school dances and made an effort to go to them, because they are so valuable to our happiness. I read an interview, on NPR, about high school sweethearts who graduated in 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama. Their senior year, they were marching for the right to vote as people of color. They didn’t have a senior prom. But, 50 years later, the Class of 63’ got back together and hosted a night of elegant dresses, dry cleaned suits, decadent food, riveting conversation, and, of course, dancing. After half a century, these two got to dance like a high school couple again, and it meant the world to them. 

Stories like these show us how much dancing really means to the humans that came before us. Not only are school dances a rite of passage, but they are a place of true humanity. There is nothing more organic than embracing a piece of music, surrounded by your friends, and dancing. So, we need to show up to our school dances, and demand to our student council that they need to happen in the first place. Hit the dance floor with a few moves you googled earlier in the day. If you’re more rhythmically inclined, take the time to watch a few tutorials on dance steps from back in the day. A year ago, my friend and I spent an afternoon learning how to waltz. It was chaotic and more than a few toes were stepped on, but it was so fun. And, I want you all to experience that. I want you to know the feeling of being hyped up by your friends in a dance circle. I want you to feel the rush of adrenaline when you finally get the steps right to a waltz. I want you to forget your teenage apathy, lose the stigma you’ve placed on yourself, and get out there… and dance.

Thank you.

“100 Dance Quotes to Inspire & Intrigue You.” Harlequin The Dance Store. 23 Sept. 2021.

https://thedancestore.ca/100-dance-quotes/ Accessed 19 Mar. 2026 

Douban, Gigi. “Turmoil Of ’63 Shut Down Proms; Former Students Dance Again.” NPR Weekend Edition Sunday. 19 May 2013. https://www.npr.org/2013/05/19/185247351/turmoil-of-63-shut-down-proms-former-students-dance-again. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.

“Dancing and the Brain.” Harvard Medical School. Winter 2015. https://hms.harvard.edu/news-events/publications-archive/brain/dancing-brain Accessed 10 Mar. 2026

Kennedy, Lesley. “How Prom Traditions Have Evolved Through History.” History.  28 April 2023. https://www.history.com/articles/prom-invention-traditions. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026

Strauss, Valerie. “Principal cancels dance to stop students from twerking and blames Miley Cyrus.” Washington Post. 5 Sept. 2014. link.gale.com/apps/doc/A381618522/SUIC?u=eau11171&sid=bookmark-SUIC&xid=f4adc33c. Accessed 23 Feb. 2026.