“I’m a Barbie Girl in the Barbie World” boomed from speakers as flashes of light bounced around Lower Right of Paresky Commons, shining different shades of pink on ties and dress hems. On September 23, a schoolwide Barbie-themed dance took place after the showing of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie. Clad in pink, students from all grades came together to enjoy the night’s festivities.
Denzel Dickson ’26 appreciated the creativity of the dance and the way it allowed people to explore varying fashion styles while staying with a distinctive and cohesive theme. Though Dickson noted that the decor and music could have embraced the theme more, he still felt the students brought a vibrant Barbie spirit to the dance floor.
“I came to the dance because it was a Barbie dance and it seemed like a really interesting and fun dance to go to. I really enjoyed hearing Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s song, ‘Barbie World’… I think the theme [of] Barbie was really cute and I like how people portrayed the theme with their outfits. I think it was…appealing and interesting,” said Dickson.
For Mia Isacson ’26, she felt the dance was a good opportunity to socialize and meet new people, enjoying the dance because of its “fun and light-hearted” pink theme. Isacson also described how she put together her outfit for the Barbie theme.
“I wore two items from Andover Thrift, actually. I wore a corduroy jacket…as well as a black lace skirt I got from there. I also wore a pink lace dress-blouse to go over the skirt, lace tights, black Dr. Martens, a black choker necklace, and a pink necklace with gold as well as some gold jewelry,” said Isacson.
DJ Jacob Gordon thought the dance went “really well,” even though students occasionally bumped into him. Apart from that, he often took risks in song choice. For example, he included a remixed version of “Alive” by Krewella which the crowd responded well to. Gordon discussed his thoughts about the dance’s theme in relation to DJing.
“I think the Barbie theme was good, it was fun. I tried to make a playlist around it but there’s really not a lot of Barbie songs… I don’t usually make playlists. I have a couple [of] go-to banger playlists, but I usually just strictly go off the vibes,” said Gordon.
Aeva Cleare ’26 mentioned some memorable aspects of the dance, especially how pictures came out and the attendees’ attire. She saw people go above and beyond in their extravagant Barbie-related outfits, some even dressing up as specific characters from the Barbie movie. In particular, Cleare highlighted the attention one attendee who dressed as Ken received.
“The guy who dressed up as Ken was really funny because a friend had pointed him out and of course we [needed] to take pictures with him. I flagged him down and what ended up happening was as soon as he entered…he got the Ken sign… There was this whole slew of people just taking photos with him [that] it looked like paparazzi,” said Cleare.
