Every year, the Leadership dance committee arranges numerous events for LACES students to enjoy, like homecoming, prom and middle school dances. In the past, Leadership has attempted to put on a spring formal but were ultimately unsuccessful due to low ticket sales. This year, assistant chair of the dance committee Minji Kim and member Jonathan Ben Salamon have proposed bringing the spring formal back to LACES, and the dance committee has gotten straight to planning. The formal will be held on Friday, April 12 at 7p.m. 

“We’ve tried to have a spring formal, but it hasn’t succeeded because people don’t buy tickets until the last minute,” said Kim. 

Unlike past years, there has been a seemingly increasing interest in a spring dance amongst the student body. However, students’ complaints about higher ticket pricing could cause difficulty in selling tickets. 

“I feel like there should be a price range every year, but the [homecoming] price is always killing it – it just ruins the whole experience,” said sophomore Amber Castro.

To counteract this, Leadership is planning on lowering ticket prices considerably compared to homecoming ticket prices.  

“It’s mostly going to be a cheaper dance compared to homecoming – maybe around like $20 because we are going to do it at school,” said Kim. 

Aside from costs and location, the spring formal is described by Kim to be akin to homecoming in various ways – with spring royalty, a theme, and guest passes, as well as the semi-formal dress code and the dance being high school only. 

“It’s going to be similar to homecoming, but a little similar to the middle school dance where there’s going to be activities to do as well,” said Kim. 

The dance committee also decided to hire a LACES student to DJ the formal, and senior Daniel You was given the position. 

“I’ve been DJing for about six months, and I like to play music,” said You. “One of the people in the Leadership dance committee asked me if I would want to do the spring formal that’s coming up.”

He is excited for a new opportunity to showcase his art and music skills to new audiences.

“It’s definitely exciting, getting the opportunity to DJ something,” You said. “I am looking forward to the formal, because I think it’s pretty cool that the school reached out to me to DJ instead of hiring a DJ,” said You. 

One of the main motivations for Leadership hosting the event is to bring more inclusivity to the school, especially for underclassmen. 

“Prom is very only for seniors, so I feel like a lot of underclassmen feel a little excluded,” said Kim. We’d like to just have another dance like that where kids can dress up and hang out outside of school hours.”

Due to the history of spring formals ending up canceled, Leadership has been working hard to try to ensure that ticket sales will be a blockbuster, by lowering ticket prices and combining aspects of successful events to make up the upcoming dance. They are also planning to advertise it a lot once it is officially announced and the class has high hopes for the formal. 

“I’ve been really excited to plan it,” said Kim. “I think this is a great way for the student body to have another dance and to look forward to the spring semester.”