The Andover Edition board wore matching black t-shirts to the dance.
The Andover Edition provided a student DJ and took song requests.
Donning all-black attire, dancing to the DJ’s music, and taking photos at photo booths, students packed the Paresky Commons dance floor last weekend at “The Bassment” dance. Organized by the Andover Edition, Phillips Academy’s student-run fashion publication, the dance fulfilled the club’s goals to engage with Andover students through fashion and music. The club combined the words “bass” and “basement” for the name, a nod to the bass-heavy music that students danced to throughout the night. Langston Reid ’24, board member of the Andover Edition, explained that the club tried to provide students with a party different from the annual dances on campus.
“Andover Edition [is] very up-to-date…we thought our club would [organize the dance] perfectly because we have a diverse board, we have a DJ, we have people who are good at marketing, we have an established Instagram…we could raise that height necessary for a very good party,” said Reid.
Attendee Lydia Mechegia ’24 commented on the DJ’s mix and the club’s advertisement of the event.
“I just had a lot of fun dancing and hanging out with my friends, and listening to some good music. And the lighting was really cool too… the marketing was really good. I saw a lot of posters about it,” said Mechegia.
Several attendees personalized the all-black dress code by experimenting with various silhouettes, textures, and layers. Attendee Mayumi Kawano ’25 explained the thinking behind her pairing of a satin corset top and parachute cargo pants.
“So I wanted something kind of more streetwear, but also true to myself. So I picked out the top, just because that’s something that I really like, it makes me so confident every time I wear it, and it makes me feel really pretty. I chose the pants because those are very staple, and they’re easy to move around in, and they’re super comfortable, and they also tie in that streetwear look,” said Kawano.
Reid explained that the success of the dance followed a long preparation process and several challenges. According to Reid, the dance was originally planned to be held in Susie’s, but it was moved to Lower Right of Paresky Commons on the day of the dance.
“We had to move everything around, move our plan around, market it differently, tell people, ‘Don’t go down there, come up here.’ And that was probably our biggest challenge, we were stressing all this morning… but we made it work, you know? When you have a board of 12 people, all dedicated, all very committed to making this campus a great place, especially making this event possible, we can do anything,” said Reid.
Through organizing “The Bassment,” Reid hopes that attendees took away special memories with their friends and enjoyed dancing to the music. In the future, he envisions the Andover Edition hosting more dances that incorporate the students’ ideas.
“If you were to go with your friends, and your friends were like, ‘Oh, this party is lame,’ you’d see people be like, ‘No, this party is incredible, I wanna stay, this is an incredible environment.’ It’s that energy. I’m looking to see people smile, dance, mosh, sing to the lyrics, and leave with some incredible photos to go on Instagram [and] share with their friends,” said Reid.
