Utah Tech Student Association hosted one of the most anticipated events of the year April 22—Inferno.
This dance was well-planned out, having few hiccups during the night, but this entertaining event could always have room for improvement.
I have been to every single dance at Utah Tech University during my college career, and I have always enjoyed myself. However, I was going into this dance with a little bit of a critical eye, and I found myself wishing for a more impactful difference to separate this dance from the rest.
There were many changes and original ideas added to this dance like the white-out theme, paint war and bungee trampoline. Classics surrounding the Inferno dance also reappeared such as the pick-up basketball and the True Trailblazer afterward.
Inferno had many successes throughout the night that made me proud of the planning and preparation UTSA did. The entry lines were short and went smoothly. There weren’t many announcements made to push back a rowdy crowd smushing the barricades. There was plenty of space and opportunities for students to take breaks from dancing to enjoy themselves with the smaller activities.
The only complaint I had throughout the night was this dance didn’t stick out compared to past dances or even last year’s Inferno. Last year’s Inferno created more hype which enticed more people to attend. The attitudes of each person last year was to just have the best time they could; this year, those attitudes seemed to not have been repeated.
The DJ played the same songs I have heard at every dance, and he even had predictable transitions. While these songs are classics and get the crowd hyped up, I danced throughout the night wishing there was more originality in the playlist.
The crowd at this dance felt the same as any other. There were the people that wanted to mosh in the middle, those that wanted to dance in the back, and those that wanted to purely rock out to the music in the front. There was the same amount of pushing past to get to stand closer to the front, temporarily breaking apart other friend groups while they dance. This crowd was neither better or worse than any other year.
A better crowd would have been a more considerate crowd. I always seem to leave a dance with a few more bruises from the pushing and shoving. I understand getting to the spot people enjoy most, but I would rather have had people pass respectfully than shove hard out of the way.
I have always looked forward to the dances at the school, but after attending so many, I was seeking a little more of a stand-out for this year’s end of the year event.
I would have loved for this dance to have had the paint thrown on the dance floor rather than contained in another space as I came to the dance to dance, but I still wanted to get a little colorful in order to optimize the white-out theme.
I hope in the future UTSA has a dance with a different playlist. Something like a full throwback dance, with the songs we listed to growing up, or a country themed dance would separate the feeling that every dance is the same.
2023 Inferno was an excellent time for all those involved, but some of my fellow friends and I were hoping for the same feeling and excitement that came from attending last year’s Inferno.
This dance made big improvements from past dances when it comes to security and other provided entertainment. It is hard continuing to top past events when the bar is set so high from the first one, but in the future UTSA can come up with a truly unique and entertaining night of dancing for all.
