Written by Lucy Cope
Photo by Rob Speed
No more disagreeing on the song choices! At Silent Disco, students danced the night away to the beat of their own headphones.
On February 25, Bryan College hosted their first Silent Disco. From 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., students danced, snacked, and laughed while listening to the music of their choice. The silent disco was held in the game room of Latimer, where a dark party room was constructed by hanging black sheets around all the walls to block unwelcome light.
In the Grill, adjacent to the game room, there were long tables with snacks available to students who needed a break from boogying and a quick drink of water.
Each student was given a pair of headphones as they entered the dance zone, with three separate playlists available to be shuffled through at the students’ leisure. Many students also picked up LED glowing foam sticks as they entered the dance zone.
Each playlist had a distinct color that would glow in a ring around both sides of the headphones. One playlist was for “party” music, which played nostalgic club music and line dances, and emitted a blue glow. One playlist was for “country”, which glowed green. Lastly was their “pop” playlist which glowed red.
Attendee Didi Doran described the event as a “straight vibe.” Didi said, “I would go again but [the event] was kind of awks at first because of how there were people just standing but then bangers came on.”
I asked Didi what she would have done differently if she were running the event, to which she replied, referring to the music, “I want all of them to be R&B and 2000s classics.”
I attended the event from approximately 8:00p.m.-9:00p.m. Most students’ headphones typically displayed the blue glow of the party playlist. As line dance songs would come onto the party playlist, the middle of the dance floor filled with students: some more experienced dancers who knew the dance and others who were following along and picking up the steps quickly.
However, as the line dances would end, students would quickly drift back to the perimeters of the room and congregate in small groups, often leaving wide spaces open in the middle of the dance floor. From time to time, brave students would break away from the groups and dance enthusiastically in the middle of the room, and a few times dance circles formed, but for the most part excluding the line dances, students gravitated toward the edges of the room. Nonetheless, there were many smiles and lots of boogying.
Once students found the bravery to dance and let free, the silent disco was generally considered to be a great success among the students.
