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Dance
DJ, Music / Photographers / Food / Ticket Sales
L O C A T I O N
Most casual school dances are held in school gyms. If you don't have a gym,
and need to find a facility off-campus, local YMCAs, Elk's Lodges, or
Community Centers may be willing to allow your school to use their facility
for a nominal charge. But most high schools have a gym which can be used
for dances. There are often two problems in using a gym, the first of which
is scheduling. Your sports teams will probably be using the gym for practice
every day; so the time needed for decorating the gym for the dance, and the
dance itself may conflict with their schedules. Be diligent about
communicating with everyone involved, and this can usually be worked out.
The second issue of concern in a gym is the floor. Hundreds of students
dancing on it in street shoes can ruin the finish. Just be sure that your
gym floor is either protected by some kind of a tarp, or the floor isn't an
issue.
S E C U R I T Y
It is imperative that you have adequate security for your dance. You are
responsible for the safety of your students. You or an Assistant Principal
should direct the security. Your security should include three groups. The
first group would be your city's police department. Local police departments
will usually allow you to hire off-duty policemen for this type of
assignment. You will have to pay them their going rate, but their presence
is a visible signal to any potential troublemakers that you are prepared.
Their assignment would most likely be to patrol outside the gym, around your
campus, and in your parking lots. Often the most trouble at a school dance
takes place outside the gym or in the parking lots. The second group of
security people would be part of your Dean's office, or whoever handles
safety issues on your campus. Most schools now include campus security.
Campus security supervisors
should be at the dance. They would patrol
outside the gym, inside the dance itself, the bathrooms, and stop any
problems at the doors. If you do not have any school security supervisors,
you could hire a private security company, which is usually a lot cheaper than
the police department, for the second part of your security staff. The third
aspect of your security force should be any administrators or teachers
attending the event. They can be very helpful because they are more likely
to know students. Anonymity often allows students to do things they wouldn't
normally do. If a teacher or administrator knows them, they tend to behave
in a more appropriate manner. Thus the teachers and administrators should be
inside the dance and supervise any activities there. All of these groups must
act in concert, and they must be able to communicate with each other in a
rapid and efficient manner. Radios are absolutely crucial for
communication. If your school doesn't have radios for communication purposes,
get them as soon as possible.
C H A P E R O N E S
Chaperones can usually be provided by your PTA. These chaperones perform
several functions. They can sell tickets at the doors, provide
coat-check
services, help serve food if needed, and also provide a little more
supervision of students. Their participation in security should not be
formal, but any adults present at the dance who know the students are
helpful. Let your PTA know months in advance, what the schedule is
for your dances and how many chaperones will be needed. These people are
volunteers, and may need a lot of notice to allow them to make their plans.
D E C O R A T I O N S
Let your student dance committee handle arrangements for
decorations. They
will need to have a cost-budget. Give them a dollar amount of how much they can
spend. They can make the decisions as to where the money will be spent, as
long as they check with you for a final OK. They will need to make
arrangements to buy and transport materials for decorating. (Helium tanks
are often used, and care must be taken when transporting them.) The
committee must also plan and arrange for a time to decorate the gym, and
clean up afterward. The students are usually enthusiastic about the
decorations so this will probably be easily managed.
D J , M U S I C
I would recommend having some type of standard contract with the
DJ. This
eliminates any type of misunderstandings as to your expectations and payment
agreement. Allow plenty of time for these arrangements.
Get a DJ at least one month prior to your event. Let the students do the
legwork for you in finding a pool of candidates for DJ's. They are usually
very aware of DJ's available in the area. After the students have narrowed
the selection process to two or three potential DJ's, you can then check
references. The references that will be most helpful are those of other
schools. School dances have different needs than private parties or other
events. This way you can check about things that concern you as your school's
representative. Some of these things might be; if they arrived on time; if
they were courteous to students; whether or not they have sufficient
equipment for a gym; how may helpers they needed; if they conducted
themselves in an appropriate manner; or if they always cooperated with
administrators at the dance itself. A bad DJ can ruin a dance, so take the
time necessary to make a well-informed choice.
P H O T O G R A P H E R S
Most schools have a contract with a particular photographer to take couple
and group photographs at their dances. Talk to your photographer well in
advance to allow for adequate coverage for pictures. Some schools have
students that like a lot of pictures taken at every dance, while others don't.
Try to find out what the needs have been in the past at your school, and use
that information to help your photographer. If you are not pre-selling
tickets, give your best estimate as to how many students will be attending
your dance. If students have to wait in line for pictures, they cannot enjoy
the dance itself. You need to make arrangements so enough photographers
fill the needs of your students. Most photographers will allow the dance
committee to choose the background that will be used in the pictures. Most
students enjoy the task, so let them do it. You should also be making a
small commission on the photographs taken, but that would be covered in your
contract with the photography studio. This is a lot of fun for most students.
They like having pictures from the dances. Take the time necessary to assure this aspect of your
dance runs smoothly.
F O O D
Most casual dances do not include refreshments, but if a club on campus would
like to sell sodas or food as a fundraiser, you may want to consider it.
They could also sell flowers, or something in keeping with your theme (if you
have one) for the dance. For example, if the dance is a Sadie Hawkins dance,
you could sell marriage certificates. This aspect of the dance is purely
extra. If it makes things more fun for the kids, then go ahead and do it,
but don't if it makes things too difficult for you.
T I C K E T S S A L E S
There are two ways of handlingticket sales. You can sell pre-sale during
the school day, or just sell tickets at the door. Either method works well. Choose which one
is best for your particular situation. Most schools also charge differently
for tickets, depending on whether students have an ASB card or not. This
would be another incentive for buying an ASB card at the beginning of the
year.
