High School Formals

Blame it on the boogie

14 January 2013 by admin in Formal Planning, Homepage

By Laura Cornish

Alarmingly, Sophie Ellis Bextor yodelled casually about a murder on the dance floor, Timomatic was certain everyone was running hot on his dance floor and the Jackson Five sang "Blame it on the Boogie".

There’s no escaping it: the dance floor is a hot topic, a veritable hub of seething, writhing bodies. It’s possible that the thought of a dance floor fills you with as much excitement as a year without public holidays. Can I dance with my friends? A partner? Can I dance alone (the answer is an emphatic YES and huge points if you do it.) What if I look strange? What if my dress flies up? How slow can a slow dance be when fifty teachers are watching me? And, most importantly, what do I do once I get there?

There’s a mini-proverb that you might have seen on greeting cards:

“Dance like no one’s watching.”

Easy for a card to say. But it doesn’t understand what it’s like being a teenager, when it feels like everything you’re doing is being watched. And your shoes are killing you. For some people, dancing is one of the most anxiety-inducing, scary parts of their formal. But when you have your friends, and the night is young, and the DJ is playing song after song of magic, dancing can give you such a feeling of joy. Remember that at high school formals, DJs rarely play a lot of slow songs. They probably know that they exclude many of their guests. Instead, they’re likely to play modern chart-toppers and guaranteed floor-filler oldies like ABBA and Michael Jackson.

So what do you need to keep in mind when searching for a place to host your formal? We spoke to Vanessa Cross from San Remo Ballroom, "one of the most important things to consider when choosing a venue for your formal is the dance floor; this will definitely be where you spend most of your evening" .

"From the Nut Bush to Beyonce, the dance floor needs to be big enough to cater for it all. Following are a few things you need to look out for:

*  Will the dance floor be big enough for all of your guests?

*   Is the dance floor easily accessible to all of your guests?

*  Does the venue have any disco lights/mirror ball included for dancing?

*  Does the venue have any theme lighting included for dancing?

*  Is it is a floating dance floor or a built in dance floor? (A floating dance floor will generally incur an additional charge to your event)"


"If you are planning any special presentations or choreographed dances, you’ll also need to consider if the dance floor is going to be suitable.” A great dance floor makes a truly excellent formal.  Whether you wish to spend your night indulging in mocktails in the lavish ballroom setting or de-stressing from your studies by dancing the night away on the massive dance floor, San Remo Ballroom has everything you require to transform your school formal into an unforgettable occasion.

My two rules:

1. Dance if you want. And dance all night if you want.

2. Don’t dance if you don’t want to. And never bully someone else into dancing. It draws attention and it’s unkind. If they wanted to dance, they would have read rule number 1.

“You need to be 100% happy with the venue and the size of the dance floor. The measure of a great formal is how many guests are on the dance floor throughout the evening; and how sore your feet are the next morning”, says Vanessa.