On Feb. 8, New Trier’s Turnabout Dance was filled with creative costumes and pumping music from B96’s Stylez and Roman. Stepping inside the dark gym on the Winnetka Campus, all I saw and heard were the DJs set up in the middle of the dance floor with four to six large stereos, blaring out remix after remix of hip-hop and pop songs.
Behind them, there were bright lights flashing different colored strobe lights to the loud, pounding music. By the time it was eight-thirty, the entire room was filled with students in creative get-ups such as Mickey Mouse, Miley Cyrus, firemen, flappers from the roaring twenties, angels and devils, Greek gods, and superheroes. Like the Homecoming dance, freshmen and sophomores are required to dress formally, while the juniors and seniors dressed up in themed groups.
On the other side of the gym, was the resting area. There were air hockey tables, a bean bag toss, foosball, a photo booth, table tennis, and tables for snacking. There were also water and soda available to drink. It was a nice respite when the crowd in the main gym was getting too big and stepping on my feet or when I felt exhausted from dancing. However, when the time was close to ten o’clock, almost everyone was gone.
“I was only there for half an hour,” said junior Abi Cummings. Lots of people danced to the music with lots of energy like junior, Nicole De Matteo. She said, “It was the best one so far. The decoration wasn’t necessary, but the actual DJ was really good.” Another positive review from junior Meredith Falk stated, “I was incredibly impressed with the DJs from B96, Stylez and Roman. We danced the night away and I think the organizers did a great job.”
While there were students enjoying themselves, senior Jane Reznek found the music annoying and unnecessary. “It was fun but loud,” she said. “There were a lot of mash ups, and I don’t like mash ups.”
In my opinion, I thought the music was fun to dance to, but later on, the music started to hurt my head because of how loud it was and the flashing lights made eyes go blind. I didn’t think the room needed so many stereos. I understood that the DJs were trying to make a good appearance by creating a lot of energy with multiple lights and getting everyone to jump up and down, but it felt way too intense at times. I just wished there was one song from the 90’s that wasn’t remixed. Instead the songs were the usual overplayed suspects like “Timber” by Pitbull feat. Ke$ha and “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus.
As for the decorations, I only saw a few streamers as I walked into the main gym, but I understood that Turnabout wasn’t about the decorations; it was just focused on the dance itself. The fact that there was little decorations didn’t bother me because who cares? No one pays attention to them unless they have to.