School Dance

Our production culminates in a dance: the whole Bomont community turns out for a party in the high school gym. (I guess I should've said Spoiler Alert, but I figured you'd all know that the town eventually throws out the ban on dancing.)

School dances are kind of a rite of passage for teenagers.  They are often filled with apprehension, excitement, high hopes, lots of hair spray and make-up, and (at least at the school dances I attended) lots of bad dance moves (performed by me).  A lot of us probably take school dances for granted, because, as opposed to the teenagers in Bomont, we're allowed to have them.



In preparation of our production, let's give some thought to our own school dance experiences.  Some of us have been to our fair share of dances, some of us are just starting to think about school dances, some of us may even have school dances coming up as we rehearse the play.  So let's ask: what makes a school dance fun?  It's a big deal.  People spend hours thinking about a dance, planning for a dance, shopping for a dance, worrying about a dance, and then, finally, attending a dance.  And why is it such a big deal?  What makes it a big deal?  Why do we want to have school dances and, in the context of our show, why is it something we are willing to fight for?



And why is there an App called School Dance?  More importantly, why am I downloading it right now?

We never say in the show that the dance is the prom, we never call it that specifically, because Bomont High hasn't had a prom in several years.  But a prom is a kind of school dance, so I wanted to send along some related links I thought you might enjoy.  There is a public radio program called This American Life that has been on for the last several years and takes a theme each week and examines it through stories, interviews, fiction, non-fiction, and sometimes music.  The theme they chose for one episode was the prom.

The first story they tell is the one that reminds me of Bomont.  In that story, which takes place in Kansas, a tornado rips through a town while the prom is going on.  Obviously there is no tornado in our play (oh, idea for Rennie's show 2014: The Footloose of Oz!  Ariel/Dorothy goes to a school dance, but then a tornado takes her to a place where dancing is banned by a wicked witch...sorry, got distracted), but in the story, you hear interviews with teenagers, living in a small town in the American Midwest, talking about their prom, their families, and their friends.  If you have a chance, give it a listen (the first story is about 25 minutes long).  If you're more of a reader, the second link will bring you to a transcript of the radio program.  It's interesting, it's completely true, and it's a little sad.

And, one last note, as a sort of disclaimer: some of the content, language, and references in the story are firmly in the PG-13/TV-14 range.  If that material might be offensive to you, maybe sit this one out.

Here are the links:
Radio Program Link
Transcript Link