The first dance of the Summer School program took place in Granger Hall of the Science Center. At the beginning of the party, the place was filled. Most people were dancing inside the Hall, while many others were taking pictures outside, where it wasn’t dark.
Music was very controversial during the event. While some were really enjoying the DJ’s performance, many others were very unsatisfied about it, especially Latino students.
Bel Amaral, a Brazilian student, was very direct when asked about the music. She said it “kind of screwed up the whole thing.”
“When we asked the DJ about playing Latino music, he said that that kind of music was not allowed,” said Nazarena Fernandez, an Argentinian student. “The genres were very boring to me.”
“Not necessarily Latino music, it needed more variety,” said Gabriela Serpa, a student from Puerto Rico. But Mariana Torres, also from PR, said that the environment clearly needed music in Spanish, “music that you can dance,” because everyone else was just “standing there, doing nothing.”
American students shared their opinions as well. According to Jackson Ikenberry, “music was okay, it seemed like they didn’t have much rave music, which was kind of upsetting, but the selection of music later on was better.”
Others had mixed feelings. “The dance was lively in terms of music, but the all-around feeling, when something played I didn’t connect with, made me bored” said Nicholas Whiteside. “The worst part was when we got all hyped for the beat to drop and the DJ would change the song.”
“Music was boring” said Na’imah John-Charles. “I wouln’t have played techno for half of the party.” Nevertheless, Benneth Yoc said that at the beginning he didn’t like it, “but when they started to play electronic music, people started to dance.”
On the other hand, the absence of food was an issue for many. After a few hours, a number of people went to The Grill, mostly because they were hungry or perhaps tired or bored with what was happening in the Science Center.
“They should have definitely put [on] some food during the dance,” said Nazarena. Like her, Mariana said that “snacks are important.”
“There should have been food, especially more drinks than just water,” said Jackson. “It wasn’t that big of a problem, but if they had food I wouldn’t complain,” said Bel.
However, food was not an issue for Cem Bencuya, a Turkish student, who claimed that “it was a clever thing to make the dance in the Science Center,” because as Gabriela said, “The Grill was open, so we could just walk there.”
At the end (around 10 PM), everyone was just hanging out in the area outside the Academy Center. But they weren’t finished dancing. Even a Dominican student, Jorge Fernandez, brought his speakers and started to play genres like bachata or merengue.