Due to a decline in dance attendance, “Abbot,” a semi-formal dance traditionally held at the end of Fall Term, was nearly postponed. Plans were initially suggested combining the year’s two semi-formals – Blue & Silver (held over the Winter Term) and Abbot – into one big dance held in January, according to Stephanie Cormier, Student Program Coordinator.
Per Aya Murata, Assistant Dean of Students, student leaders and representatives (co-presidents, cluster reps, etc.) opposed the plans to cancel the Abbot Dance. In order to “confirm student interest” and “lock in the best date,” Murata sent a survey to the student body.
“We had about 300 students [respond]… It was good to get that feedback. We hope that the survey already builds hype, and makes people feel that they have some commitment to [by thinking] ‘I got to be involved in picking the date,’” said Murata.
She added, “The 15th was the overwhelming choice for dates. There was an open text box of feedback, so we’re again listening to the feedback that [students] want a student DJ… There’s a committee that’s doing the promotions, there’s a committee that’s doing the decorating, and now we just need people to show up.”
Clare Dunbar ’28 expressed her longstanding excitement for fun events such as dances. She encouraged the tradition of Abbot, and expressed her wishes for the success of the dance.
“I want to see [Abbot] come back. I always think it’s fun to dress up, and it’s something I look forward to on my weekends. I always like to have something that will get me through the week that I can look forward to. A dance is always a good, fun thing to have. I’d encourage my friends to go. Let’s make sure that [Abbot] stays,” said Dunbar.
Christopher Capano, Director of Student Activities, explained that student activities, and dances in particular, have experienced declining attendance over the years. He also noted, however, that non-dance events this year have been seeing high attendance numbers.
“Before Covid[-19], the Halloween dance used to be so big, we used to have kids wait outside to get in because we were too full. The Abbot ball used to be packed the entire night. Last year [at Abbot], I think we got less than 50 kids the whole night,” said Capano. “The anecdotal reason that we’ve heard is that kids are just super busy. It’s the end of the term, they’re worrying about final exams and final papers and getting all their work together.”
He added, “[Cluster Olympics] got kids really pumped up gathering as a group and doing fun things. So our Fall Carnival and Quad Day and some of those events have had really, really big crowds. Once kids start coming to them, they keep coming.”
Cormier further detailed how this year’s sparsely attended Borden Halloween Dance differed from the past. She considered that the Covid-19 pandemic might have been the impetus for such declines in student turnout.
“Student events have seen a pretty steady decline since Covid[-19]. Especially for dances. Even last night’s Halloween dance was sparse. Where Borden was once packed with 300, 400, even 500 kids, it was moderately attended with a max of 75 at any given point in time. A lot of kids poked their heads in and left,” said Cormier. “Some weren’t even in costume.”
She added, “There were more kids in Susie’s when I went in at 10:30 p.m. and reports were there were ‘a lot’ of people at free skating.”
Madelyn Esposito ’27 attributed low event attendance may be due to the inconsistencies in the grouping of Weekender events. She noted that some weekends have an abundance of events, while others were relatively sparse, leaving students to sacrifice attendance at events.
“A lot of the Weekender events tend to be packed together, so one weekend you’ll have four different events and the next you’ll have nothing or maybe just one. That causes people to think about which event they really want to go to. [For example], this weekend, there was a free skate and the Halloween dance… and there were movies, and so you have to decide, ‘Do I want to go ice skating, or do I want to go to a dance, or a movie?’” said Esposito.
