Wonder why the Sadie’s dance is being replaced? Read this article to find out why. Photo courtesy of Tripp Robbins.
By Jake Shiff
With the Menlo upper school dance coming up on February 26th, student council has decided to replace the Sadie Hawkin’s dance (where the girls ask the guys) with a costume dance.
According to Dean of Student Life Programs Cathy Chen, the decision to cancel Sadie’s was ultimately made by the members of student council and not the adults. Chen and Student Council Member Keeton Martin gave three main reasons for Sadie’s being replaced: there are too many date dances, people in the LGBT community are excluded from the dance, and girls are allowed to ask guys to any Menlo date dance (semi-formal and prom).
There is an issue at Menlo with date dances creating a lot of pressure for the Menlo students, Martin explained, “Since the dance is coming up so soon, people would have to start asking for Sadie’s right after semi-formal, and that would be too many date dances because some kids get excluded from the whole process.”
Menlo strives to be a very progressive school in terms of making everyone on the gender spectrum feel welcomed, “Sadies is differentiating boys and girls, gender is a spectrum and there are some kids at Menlo who differentiate themselves from the social norms,” said Ms. Chen.
Ultimately, members of student council believe that Sadie’s promotes the idea that it is the only dance where girls can ask guys, “Sadie’s is very old fashioned and it should be socially acceptable for girls to ask guys to any date dance, like semi-formal and prom, so having Sadie’s is pointless,” said Chen.
The solution student council is implementing is simple: Sadie’s will be replaced with a costume dance where you can bring a date, a friend, a group, or go by yourself, according to Chen. Girls can still ask guys to the new dance, just like a normal Sadie’s dance. The new dance hopes to let anyone in the student body to feel welcomed at the dance. Assistant to the Dean of Students Alisyn Crowder agreed with the decision. “If a boy or girl can ask for any dance, there is no reason they should designate a dance for only girls to ask,” Crowder said.
Many students were upset that there was no explanation as to why Sadie’s is being replaced. “I think the student body needs an explanation because the decision seems to come out of nowhere,” sophomore Kevin Yang said.
Freshman Andrei Volgin added, “Cancelling Sadie’s was a bit of an overreaction by the people who were upset about the whole process.” Senior Polly Finch believes that this decision has its benefits and downfalls. “I think that it is good that they are trying to accommodate everyone’s interests, but I like the idea of having a traditional dance,” Finch said.
