McClatchy held its annual Homecoming dance on Saturday, October 7th. Though students generally enjoyed themselves, many voiced displeasure with music selection, crowding, and tight chaperoning.
“The music wasn’t that good,” said junior Marcus Hamm when asked for his overall reaction to the dance.
Senior Michael Denecochea, who DJ’d the Back to School Dance, agreed.
“I felt the DJ’s playlist was a bit too scattered,” Denecochea explained via text, noting a particular dissatisfaction with the electronic music in the playlist. “Most students want hip hop and pop music to be played at dances. That’s what is most popular today!”
The DJ, Luis Guerrero, has DJ’d the past several McClatchy Homecomings. Last year, ASB decided to hire a different DJ for this year’s dance in response to similar complaints about music at the 2016 Homecoming.
“Around May of last year, Tony Burns came in to talk to the student government class as a whole, proposing a request to be our DJ for Homecoming,” said Michael Ross (‘18), the ASB Dance Committee chair. “He offered us a deal: he would DJ Homecoming and the Sadies dance, then DJ the Bye-Bye Bash for free. I believe the class voted unanimously in favor of hiring him.”
ASB President Zach Neff (‘18) said there was never an official motion voted on to hire Mr. Burns instead of Mr. Guerrero for this year’s Homecoming, but affirmed that all of ASB made it clear they wanted Mr. Burns.
“It was an informal expression of ‘Yes, we want a new DJ,’” Neff said.
“It was a consensus,” added ASB Vice President Madi Pearce (‘18) of ASB’s decision to hire Mr. Burns. “But [ASB Director] Hubbard hired Luis without letting anyone know.”
Mr. Hubbard claimed that the desire to replace Mr. Guerrero was never communicated to him, so he hired Mr. Guerrero again. He said that the decision to hire Mr. Burns was an internal choice made within the Dance Committee, and did not involve the larger class over which he presides.
“Unfortunately, that committee neglected to inform me of their decision,” Hubbard said.
“Therefore, just to make sure we had our bases covered, I booked Luis.”
Multiple other ASB members confirmed Michael Ross’ version of events, however, saying ASB made a clear demand for a new DJ. But there may have been some confusion over whether the ASB members’ positive response to Mr. Burns’ presentation constituted a binding declaration of his hiring.
ASB has already decided to have Michael Denecochea DJ Sadie’s, McClatchy’s next major dance.
In addition to the music, many students complained about crowding at the dance.
“It was just crowded,” said freshman Ben Silva. “There wasn’t that much space to dance and move around.”
This feeling of crowdedness might be more due to the dancers’ behavior than their numbers, however. According to ASB records, 1,557 tickets were sold this year, only slightly more than the 1,454 sold last year. But many students said dancers especially rowdy at this year’s Homecoming.
“Everybody was pushing; they kept pulling my hair,” said Areli Banales (‘18). She added that one of her toes started bleeding after it was repeatedly stepped on.
Girls typically take of their heels at school dances in the interest of mobility, and are left vulnerable to such injuries. Senior Payton Eldridge certainly was. “I got my toe stepped on during the song ‘Bodak Yellow’, because the crowd was too hype. I bled profusely.”
Battered and bruised McClatchy dance-goers had one more threat to contend with -- disciplinary action. Chaperones at this year’s dance were more active than in years past, frequently breaking into clusters of students with flashlights. Students caught dancing inappropriately were sentenced to a short time-out.
“We got some feedback from teachers last year who were offended by some of the dance moves of the newer class, and so we were responding to what students are doing now and how dancing has changed,” explained Mr. Hubbard. “We need to make it a safe space and make sure everyone’s comfortable.”
Despite all the negative feedback with regards to Homecoming, students still considered the dance a good time (the usual pattern).
“Crowded but fun” was how senior Ximena Campos characterized the dance.
“It was fun, can’t complain,” said Quin Nguyen (‘18), this year’s Homecoming King, though he maintained that past Homecomings were better.
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