UHS Students Party at First Ever Vice Versa
Ornate paper snowflakes spun slowly on the ceiling of the cafeteria on January 8th, 2010, as students danced below. The senior class of 2011 had just made UHS history by sponsoring UHS’s first Sadie Hawkins dance. Over 200 tickets were sold to the Vice Versa, just barely inside the 250 limit.
“I think it’s good that our class has started this tradition of having a yearly Vice Versa, and it’s also great because we’ve made a good profit,” said Senior Class President Mandy Facer. During a class meeting, Senior Greg Morris, came up with the idea for UHS to have their first Sadie Hawkins dance, which they later changed to Vice Versa.
The term “Sadie Hawkins Dance” is named after the Lil’ Abner comic strip character Sadie Hawkins, written by Al Capp. The event was first introduced in a daily strip on November 13, 1937. The comic showed unmarried women chasing bachelors and “marrying up” with the ones they caught. The reason? They were tired of waiting for the ideal man to come ask for their hand.
“The idea [of the dance] is wildly popular for girls who enjoy taking the initiative, rather than waiting around to be asked to a dance,” said Jennifer Maughan, an expert author on EzineArticles.com.
Before the event, students weren’t sure what to expect from the Vice Versa. When asked what he thought, Sophomore Jeffrey Spires said, “It’s going to be a laid back dance, definitely not like homecoming. It will take a while for all the students to really catch on to the event.”
“I hope that it will end up being worth our time, because I still feel that it is pretty pointless to have a dance during January,” said Freshman Aaliyah Johnson, who was skeptical of the idea.
Approximately 183 students attended. In general many people thought there weren’t very many people. “It was fun. There weren’t as many people as homecoming, but that way there was more room to dance,” said Senior Anna Mast.
“I thought it was a pretty cool idea for there to be a winter semi-formal this year. I think the idea of the dance being a Vice Versa might have turned people off a bit from coming to the dance. Anyone could have definitely had a good time at the dance, it definitely wasn’t something only a couple could go to,” said Senior, Deven Carter.
Freshman Lani Belton “Didn’t quite like the song selection, but still had fun.”
In addition, Junior Noah Gehrmann was also concerned with the music; “The dance was alright, I mean, it was cool how the girls asked the guys. But it’s always the same DJ. I don’t think he was playing anyone’s requests.”
In the end, the dance that was widely thought of as “a couple thing,” sold 217 tickets. To those who didn’t go, Freshman Reanna Bear-Brister said, “You should’ve seen the students dancing. It was a hot mess! You really should’ve been there, we were all killin’ it.”
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I went!! It was amazing!! My date did not get to come, but I had fun just sitting around, drinking my Pepsi that I brought from home, and just taking a whole lot of pics on my 2 Fugi Disposables!! I used up BOTH of them!! I did not dance, except when they played the ‘Electric Slide’, I always dance to that one!! I did enjoy myself for the most part! I liked a lot of the songs they played, but there could have been some better ones! All in All, it was pretty cool!! And a lot of students(including some teachers) were just killin’ it on the dance floor!!! And the light effects were totally bangin!!
actually.. are you sure this was the first sadie hawkins dance?? because my mom went to uhs in the late 70s and she said they had a sadie hawkins dance every year then too..
Hi! We meant first in a long time- I believe there were Sadie Hawkin’s earlier, but I believe this was the first since 2000…Thanks for your post!