Connor Sample
Staff Writer
As an eager prospective student, Video Dance Party (VDP) was an event that I had heard about while reading various blogs online and while talking to my host and other students during my open house visit. It sounded like the college parties I had seen on television and in my dreams, filled with lots of people, crazy dancing, strobe lights, and live DJs. Of course, I proceeded to tell all of my friends back home about it, explaining enthusiastically that “we have a big crazy party in a tent with flair, what does your college have?”
After talking to many upperclassmen about VDP, flair is the one thing that consistently came up. To be completely honest, I had never heard of flair before coming to Colorado College. The only flares I knew were the ones you set on fire if you were ever in danger on the side of the road. However, it was explained to me that flair was to be among the many other college necessities I packed and if I did not have any, I was to hurry and find an opportunity to go to the Arc. So, freshman year, I came to college with my flair and excitement, only to realize that there would be no VDP during my first-year orientation at all.
Naturally, time went on and it was announced that VDP would be making a comeback on Halloween. Due to my disappointment before, I was scared to get too excited but knew that at least nothing could go wrong with delicious tots at Midnight Breakfast afterwards. Trying to remove all of my initial skeptical feelings, I wondered how this Halloween VDP would compare to the VDP of the last few years, since I did not get the ultimate experience. I was shocked to see that many of my upperclassmen friends either did not attend the Halloween dance, or simply did not know about it, especially if they lived off campus.
Regardless of the class divide in terms of attendance, I had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the music thanks to student DJ Mansour Al-Amin who has been DJing for the past five years and got involved with VDP through a friend in Campus Activities. The music played was a nice beginning to the night and seamlessly blended a wide set of genres.
“I just really play what I’m feeling at the moment,” Al-Amin said when asked about his DJing style. “It’s relative to every situation.”
“I remember freshman year VDP and it was a little different from what it is now. But even then I think I had the same perspective, just have a good time,” said Al-Amin. “That’s how I come to every opportunity to share a listening experience with a group of other people that I don’t know but am occupying that space and that moment with.”
Overall, it seems as though the context of this event has changed, which could possibly lead to a change of its meaning. Before, this dance party served as a bridge from New Student Orientation to freshman year. There was a space created for new students to get to know each other in a different perspective in comparison to the panel discussion, Priddy trip meetings and other requirements for the evening.
“Although this event definitely was a fun introduction to college, it seemed predatory due to the fact that some seniors would attend the events with the goal of hooking up with a freshman,” said one friend.
Although I heard mostly positive and funny stories, it definitely seems like there are a lot of things to be considered about this event and only further intrigues me to find out why the event was cancelled and changed when it was. However, as someone with no prior knowledge of the illustrious VDP before, I still had a great freshman year full of alternative spaces to get to know my classmates and still enjoyed dancing in my Thomas the Train Engine Halloween costume at this event.