DGS Hopes B96 and BOOM Entertainment Will Bring More Students to Saturday's Turnabout Dance

Members of the student representative assembly kept hearing the same complaint about the school's dances.

"Every year after the school dance, you always hear kids complain about how bad the DJ was, no matter how many things you try," said Lillie Kase. Kase is a junior class board member on the school's student representative assembly, also called SRA.

That's why the students decided to bring BOOM Entertainment and B96 to Saturday's Turnabout Dance.

BOOM doesn't just strive to play the right music. The company also puts on a light show and uses dancers to create a club-like atmosphere.

"They come about two days early to set up these huge light structures," Kase said. "It really makes a kind of club atmosphere that high-schoolers really don't get to experience."

Kase and John Aldworth, director of student activities at South, said they hope BOOM's presence will encourage more students to purchase tickets for the dance. Turnabout is traditionally a smaller dance than Homecoming.

Aldworth said typically 1,000 to 1,200 students purchase tickets to Turnabout, compared with the more than 2,000 who purchase tickets for Homecoming. Aldworth hopes 1,500 to 1,600 students will buy tickets to Turnabout under BOOM and B96's influence.

Booking BOOM costs more than other DJ's booked in the past, so SRA has focused on upping publicity for the dance and increasing ticket sales to cover the difference.

Aldworth said he hasn't seen a boost in ticket sales yet, but he also said most students wait until the week of the dance to purchase tickets. So far, he said he thinks the school's reaction to BOOM is promising.

"We mentioned it in a pep assembly in early February, and we got a great reaction from the school," Aldworth said. "They've done a lot of dances around here. They did Downers Grove North last year, so a lot of people had seen them."

BOOM came during South's lunch periods last Tuesday and Thursday, hosting dance competitions and blasting music to give students a sense of what to expect for the dance.

Students said they were optimistic and excited about BOOM after watching videos of the company's work on YouTube.

"I'm so pumped," said Kelsey Jacob, a junior at South. "I've been watching the videos on YouTube, and I just like the whole set-up. Just having the lights off is exciting."

Junior Bridget Albright said she thought more people would show up to this year's dance. She went her freshman year but couldn't go her sophomore year.

"It was boring (freshman year)," Albright said. "There were a lot less people. I don't think the music was that good, either. It wasn't easy to dance to. They've definitely hyped up (BOOM), and it's made more people want to go."

Kiernan Cavanagh, also a junior, said BOOM wouldn't affect his decision to go to Turnabout. He said he's not a fan of popular music.

"I went because my friends went," Cavanagh said. "It was just the thing to do. I thought Homecoming was better, but it's still fun."

Kase said she hasn't seen a very enthusiastic reaction from South students so far, but she attributed that to the nature of high-schoolers.

"In high school, people never want to seem too excited about anything," Kase said. "But people seem to be intrigued. A lot of people have been buying tickets because of them. Overall, I think people are anxious to see what's going to happen. They're excited."

Aldworth said that depending on how Turnabout goes, BOOM may also be booked for South's 2011 Homecoming dance. BOOM has already been booked for South's prom in May.