Street Dance dodges rain, takes campus by storm
By Madelyn Taliaferro · Contributing Writer
Grove City College held its annual Street Dance, bringing students together for an evening of dancing, music and community on Sept. 4.
As the final event of the Orientation Board (OB) season, Street Dance is both a celebration and culmination of the events that have welcomed students to campus. The entire campus community is invited to take part in the festivities.
Senior Molly Miller, an OB executive member on the Social Committee, which is responsible for planning Street Dance, explains that the “vision is that Street Dance would be a capstone for the OB season in which new students would be welcomed into the wider campus body.”
With people from across campus gathering, the event allows new and returning students to celebrate the beginning of another year at Grove City.
In the past, Street Dance has been the first event at which Greek groups could officially wear their letters, making it something of a “coming out” event for campus organizations. The event was anecdotally known as a Greek event, as groups would rush in throughout the night decked out in their letters and colors.
This year, however, groups were able to begin wearing their letters a week earlier, starting at the annual Organization Fair held at the end of the first week of classes. Members have welcomed the new change. Panhellenic president Jocelyn Bolumen reported that members “have been excited to represent their groups and show off that side of their campus life sooner than in years past.”
As a result, while Greek groups still appeared together at Street Dance this year, they were no longer arriving in their merch for the first time, and new students had already witnessed Greek representation around campus.
In its ideal form, Street Dance is held outside in SHAL Courtyard. However, due to rain forecasts, the dance moved inside into the IM rooms in the PLC. An indoor Street Dance is collectively agreed to be not ideal. OB members Ainsley Bigelow and Liza Swan shared their takes on the indoor event, with Bigelow saying that “it’s so much better when it’s outside,” and Swan stating that the event was “loud and sweaty.”
Despite the perhaps unfavorable setting, Street Dance still featured a large group of students dancing and enjoying the night. New student Sophie Mayfield said that it was “really good” and that she enjoyed the event, and attendee Caleb Detrick was amused by the presence of “weird bananas.”
Even with some bumps in the road, at its peak, Street Dance continues to hold a unique place in Grove City’s campus culture.
It “remains an important event to many groups on campus” and seeks to be a “rip-roaring good time,” according to Miller.
