A tale of two proms — not my own
I went to two proms that were not mine, and I had a great time at both of them. Proms are fun when the music is good and people will actually dance. But what makes a prom great is going with friends. Nothing can make or break your night like feeling comfortable in a space where you are surrounded by hundreds of people, many of whom you are not familiar with, and I am happy that for both of these proms, I had the opportunity to go with friends.
It figures that New Mexico School for the Arts would try something creative and offbeat, and its “Under The Sea” theme seemed on the surface to be unique and specific. Still, it would not have been evident in any way that the prom was inspired by the “Enchantment Under The Sea” prom featured in Back to the Future. There were about 200 people in attendance, with outfits ranging from Cinderella gowns to dresses so short that they would give my grandmother a stroke. Having been under the illusion that it was a 1980s theme (though I have never seen Back to the Future, set in the 1980s and 1950s), I showed up in my ’80s garb, whereas almost every other individual was dressed in typical prom attire. To keep their art school reputation, the dance floor always had people dancing, even though the DJ was not great. While the expected highlight of the night should be the announcement of prom king and queen, on this night it was when the DJ played the harddriving Queen song “Don’t Stop Me Now,” and it drew every person in the room to the dance floor — where everyone was prepared with a Broadway-style lip sync routine!
On the other hand, just because a school is selling a prom ticket for $65, it does not mean the event actually will be worth this amount. Santa Fe High School’s prom serves as the ultimate example cost does not equal quality. The catered meal of a salad (which I did not eat) followed by chicken or ravioli served with mashed potatoes, which tasted like petrol, was topped off by a dry chocolate sponge cake enveloped in a caramel sauce, which was quite good but worth no more that $20 in my mind. This prom was attended by more than 400 people, but somehow, the event’s planning committee thought it would be a good idea to have a dance floor that was about 30 by 30 square feet — not enough space for the majority of those who wanted to dance.
When I took to the dance floor, I became aware that I was one of the tallest people at this prom, which meant I could see all the sinful dancing that most definitely should have been stopped by the teachers who were standing nearby. Still, I’m glad there were “getaway” spaces where my friends and I could escape the mess that was occurring throughout the night. It was the kind of prom experience parents worry about.