Stories & photos by Avanti Chajed, Erin Hayes & Bethany Hutchens
Gargoyle staff reporters
Posted Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006, The OG, news & in depth

TEACHERS AND STUDENTS alike have complained that Uni dances have crossed the line of decency. But how do Uni's standards match up to those of other local high schools? This fall we braved the dance floors of three area high schools in search of the answer. Here's what we found.

CENTENNIAL HIGH SCHOOL: Dismal, disappointing, and dirty

WHEN I FIRST walked into Centennial's gym at the school's homecoming dance, I was expecting to see a lot of grinding. I got what I expected and more. Two big platforms in the middle of the gym floor were crowded with couples gyrating to the music, with barely any room to breathe.

As I made my way into the middle of the crowd, I saw that this was definitely not the kind of grinding I'm used to seeing at Uni dances. The Centennial students were much more sexual with their grinding than Uni students are, and with such little lighting, they could grind away without fear of being seen by teachers.

At first I was slightly uncomfortable being surrounded by couples who were so obviously “into it.” I almost felt that grinding was the only kind of dancing people were permitted to do. Eventually, I was able to ignore the various couples so that I could get through the dance and have a little fun in meeting people.

Regardless, it was hard to ignore some of the dancing. One of my friends told me she saw a guy reach under a girl's dress, causing the girl to giggle. The lack of chaperones helped them get away with such behavior. The only adults I saw supervising the dance were a woman sitting on a balcony which overlooked the gym and a police officer who I saw standing in the hallway outside.

However, the pressure to grind wasn't the only thing that kept me from dancing. Many of the songs played were impossible to dance to. These were mainly slow songs, which couldn't be danced to without a partner. In addition, there were other songs similar to those played at Uni's funk dance, which I didn't particularly like. I thought that people would at least stop grinding when these songs were played; it seemed to me that it would be impossible to grind to '80s music.

Unfortunately, it turned out that I was wrong. Though many couples stopped dancing, there were others who kept at it tenaciously. As the dance went on, these songs became more and more annoying. It was all right when the DJs played a slow song once in a while, but those songs were all they were playing toward the end of the dance. When the DJ played “What a Wonderful World,” by Louis Armstrong, most of the students left, leaving the rest of us to attempt to dance to one more song before finally heading out the door.

— Avanti Chajed

ST. THOMAS MORE HIGH SCHOOL: Raunchier than expected

AS A CATHOLIC school in the middle of Illinois, the High School of Saint Thomas More doesn't exactly bring to mind the word risqué, does it? I went into St. Thomas More for homecoming on Oct. 7 expecting the dance to be thoroughly average, probably just like one of Uni's dances.

When I stepped into the auditorium, all the students were just milling about under the steady watch of the crucified Jesus figure hanging on the wall. After some time, the students started to get frustrated that nobody was dancing, so they blamed the lighting.

Twice, a student turned off the lights, only to have the auditorium re-illuminated by teachers. In order to cushion the students' resulting anger, the DJ followed up this incident with a couple of slow songs, allowing the students to at least begin dancing in some way, and get comfortable physically, despite the lighting. So, when the DJ resumed playing the loud rap songs most students are used to dancing to, most of them disregarded the lighting and began to grind.

This grinding discomforted the chaperoning teachers, so they proceeded to weave among the dancing students, commanding them to “leave room for the Holy Ghost.” After some time, a teacher simply got on stage, took the microphone and announced that if the grinding didn't stop, the dance would be cut short. At this, a ubiquitous “BOO!” rang out, as some students made vulgar gestures at the teacher.

Instead of heeding the warning, the students continued to grind with a vengeance. The dancing got undeniably more explicit than Uni's, with some girls bent over at a 90 degree angle, rubbing their rear ends vigorously on their dance partners' groins. By that time, the chaperones had realized that all their efforts were in vain, and had ceased to bother the dancers, despite the fact that the students had done the exact opposite of what they were instructed.

The dance came to a close with students basking in their self-righteous victory and teachers resigned to their loss in this battle of the war on “dirty dancing.”

— Erin Hayes

UNITY HIGH SCHOOL: All quiet in the cornfields

FELLOW REPORTER ERIN Hayes and I made our way into Unity High School. Tension was in the air as we stepped into the sparkly, dimly lit gym. What would Unity students be like? Would dirty dancing be an issue in this small-town school surrounded by cornfields?

The questions hung in the air as we surveyed the dance floor. At that point in the dance (before coronation) people were mostly just milling around talking to friends. We seated ourselves on the bleachers and waited for the real dance to begin.

Once the king and queen were announced, it was time to hit the floor for some first-hand observation. We quickly noticed that these students were not as interested in dirty dancing as Uni students are.

Although in a later interview junior Laura Reiss stated that some grinding goes on at Unity's dances, we saw no grinding whatsoever, only couples dancing face to face. If a ruler had been placed between them, it would have read at least an inch. We caught sight of one kiss on the dance floor, and it definitely did not include tongue.

Reiss rated the overall dancing at Unity as a PG-13, saying: “I mean, it's high school students. Of course you're not going to get [just] PG.”

From what we saw, the verdict is virginal. Especially compared to Uni dances. It may have something to do with farmers' morals, but it seems that dirty dancing hasn't reached the cornfields.

— Bethany Hutchens