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Report on Dance Dance Revolution: A Survey about School Dances
Smart girls decide for themselves™.
It seems that SmartGirls have a lot to say about school dances! Quite a few of you wrote in to tell us what your school does for the big dance.
595 of you took our survey!
567 were girls, 12 boys, and 16 of you didn't say.
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| Age of Respondents |
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| This is a pretty even curve- it seems that 13 year olds were the most represented, and most of you were from age 10 to 15. |
217 of you are the oldest child, while only 117 are middle. But 172 are the youngest!
Most of you live in suburbs or in towns, but 122 of you come from a big city!
Most of you (354) said you were from the United States, while the other countries where a big block of you hailed from are England, Canada, American Samoa, and Australia! We also had SmartGirls take it from places ranging from China, Czech Republic, Jamaica, United Arab Emirates, and India. So we had quite a diverse group take this survey!
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We were curious about how many dances a year you were basing your responses off of. Did your school have one big one? Did it not allow dances period? Did you have a couple throughout the year? Or do you have a dance-loving school?
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| Number of Dances |
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| So while a lot of you only have one or none dances a year, 150 of you have four or more dances a year! Wow! |
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It seemed that most of you are hearing music that is popularly played on MTV and the mainstream radio at your dances- 406 said they play hip hop, 354 said they play pop music, R&B got 289, rock 287, and rap 305. Other types of music that were popular were punk (121), country (146), and techno (83). A throwback to old school dances, 74 of you said that they rock the oldies at your school dance! Other musical types that were mentioned, but maybe not as popular, are jazz, swing, classical, and Christian music.
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Luckily for you guys, the answers to your ideal school dance music were much the same as your answers to what they are currently playing! Hip hop, rap, R&B, pop, and country had fewer votes here than in the "already play" sections, so it seems like some of you want less common music. The types of music you want to hear more of than you are already hearing were punk, metal, reggae, techno, the oldies, and (the biggest increase) latin music!
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The vast majority of SmartGirls, 383 of you, said that your music is coming from a DJ.
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What kind of dancing did you do? SmartGirls were all over the map here, but there were some definite trends.
Hip hop dancing was one of the most popular, with 281 votes!
But the one with the most votes was "My Own Style", with 292 votes! Proving once again that SmartGirls take creativity to all the parts of their lives.
203 of you felt romantic, putting slow song dancing at number three, with 203 votes.
SmartGirls also swing dance (28 votes), line dance (61 votes), salsa or meringue (46 votes), and break dance (75 votes)!
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We were curious about who you were doing all this dancing with. So we asked you to tell us who your most common dance partners were. What we found out is that while SmartGirls dance with dates and partners, SmartGirls love to dance with their friends most of all!
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| Dance Partners |
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Speaking of friends, you are not just dancing with them once you get there! When we asked SmartGirls who they attended the dance with, you showed us that from arriving in style to dancing, dances for you are about having fun and partying with your friends.
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| Who do you attend dances with? |
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With all this partying, we were interested to find out who the adults checking in on you SmartGirls were! So we asked you to tell us who the chaperones at these dances were...
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| Chaperones |
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| While teachers were the most common chaperones, parents and principals also seem to be there! |
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What kinds of styles are you SmartGirls rocking? Well, according to your answers, it seems that regular everyday street clothes (but probably your cutest ones!) are the most common, but dresses, skirts, and nice pants have a certain appeal as well.
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| Clothes |
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We all know that an unavoidable part of school functions are the rules! So we decided to ask SmartGirls what kinds of regulations were put upon their school dances.
Each with over 400 SmartGirls telling us about it, the two most common restrictions were no drugs or alcohol, and no fighting.
Right after that were the restrictions on inappropriate dancing. Although quite a few of you told us when we asked about dancing that what kids do at your school is 'grind' or other dirty dancing, 296 of you told us that your school says no to inappropriate dancing.
On that theme, a few of you told us that there is definitely no kissing involved, and one person even said her school doesn't allow dates!
221 of you talked about how your school has a dress code for dances.
And 223 of you said there are restricted areas for dances. 96 of you told us that you can't arrive late, leave in the middle and come back, or even leave early.
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We asked you to tell us what time of day and when during the week these dances are. Most dances are in the evening or late night, with the next highest category being during the afternoon. And far and away, Friday is the most popular night to have a school dance, with sometime during the week being the next most popular choice. Sunday came up last.
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| Dance Times |
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| Day of the Dance |
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We asked you to tell us some more things about these dances. Do you have to pay to get in? What kind of food or drinks are they serving? What do you like to do after the dance? And what are the decorations like?
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| Money! |
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| Although some of you lucky SmartGirls didn't have to pay anything, the most common answer was 1-5 dollars. And 41 of you had to pay over 10 dollars to go to your dances! |
| Food served |
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| It seemed that mostly your dances just have snacks and drinks, so they are not full meals. But 171 of you talked about getting served pizza! |
| After the Dance |
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| These dances sure wear our SmartGirls out! The majority of you report going straight home, although parties, going out to eat, friend's houses, and sleepovers are still popular after-dance activities. |
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We asked about the different types of decorations that SmartGirls were surrounded with at these dances! 281 of you said balloons and 266 of you said streamers, proving that the classical choices are still in vogue! Banners were the next most popular decoration- 259 SmartGirls said that they have banners at their school dances. 86 of you said there were flowers, and 27 of you wrote in about the cool light shows that your school puts up, from black lights, to strobe lights, to disco balls. Theme decorations were also popular, and a few of you wrote in about picture booths! However, 40 of you said that there were absolutely no decorations!
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The winner here was Mean Girls! The runner up was A Cinderella Story. Other movies with school dances that you all loved include Napoleon Dynamite, Love and Basketball, Pretty in Pink, American Pie, 10 Things I Hate About You, and the classic, Grease.
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Why do you attend or not attend school dances?
I don't usually because there is so much pressure to have a date to bring with you and I also am shy so I don't like to dance in front of people! There is also pressure to drink, make-out, and have sex at the after parties which I don't want to do.
Yes, because it's possible I might get a boyfriend, or a cute guy might ask me to dance.
I attended them last year when the music was good. This year, they play bad music and nobody dances, instead standing around and just talking. So I don't go anymore because they're unbelievably lame.
Yes, because I love to have a lot of fun and love to hang out with my friends!
I never go to school dances! They're stupid! I can invite my friends over and play some good music really loud and pig out on junk food without having to get all dressed up just to go to my school!
I usually attend the big end of year dance, which is black-tie dress ball in a marquee in the grounds. I go to that one because it's a fun way to end the year, but not the other casual socials as they just aren't very good.
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SmartGirls wrote in and told us some cool themes they had for the dance. Some of our favorites were...
70's Disco
Under the Stars
Cinderella
A Walk in Central Park
Hollywood Nights
Oscars
And of course there are Valentine's Day, Halloween, Christmas, and Sadie Hawkins!
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And our last question was one where SmartGirls shared their opinions with us... Last year a high school principal cancelled a prom because students were spending so much money on the evening. For example, they bought expensive dresses, expensive dinners, and rented boats, houses, limos, etc. He also didn't like some of the partying that went on before and after the prom. Do you think the principal had any right to cancel the prom? Why or why not?
I think the principal has a right to cancel because of the parting/illegal thing students do, but I don't think he has a right to cancel it because of how much money kids spend. It's their money; they can spend what/how ever much they want.
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I definitely do not think the principal had a right to cancel the prom. Seniors look foreward from the day of their first year of high school to go to prom. money is pretty much not an option to them, because it is such on important highlight of the year. I think insteat of canceling, the princepal should have set some rules, such as no partying before the prom, preventing fights between drunk teens, and thretened to cancel if they did not see to these circumstances.
No! All of these actions were made by individual people. Not everyone needs to be punished for some kids actions!
Yes, he was worried about his students doing stupid things and therefore getting hurt.
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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts
with us!
Please remember that all web-based polls
are not scientific because the pollsters cannot randomly select the
respondents to participate in the surveys.
All our surveys are anonymous; check out our privacy
policy. All data copyright 1996-2000.
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