Along with midterm exams and cooler temperatures, October brings Homecoming to ENC. One of the biggest events of the weekend is the Homecoming Dance, which took place on Saturday, October 19 at 9:00 PM.

There is a lot of interesting history surrounding dancing and Eastern Nazarene College. For the longest time, Nazarenes were not allowed to dance, thus students were not allowed to dance. According to a Veritas article from December 11, 2013, the President’s Cabinet approved a dancing policy in November of that year, and the first official school dance was held in February 2014. The theme was Masquerade Winter Ball, and it was held in Canterbury Hall.

Ashley Prax planned this years’ dance. There is a lot that goes into making a dance happen. Prax says that “dances are hard to get approved on campus.” There is a process that needs to be followed. Prax explains that “at least six weeks before the dance they have to submit the playlist, and before they do that they have to submit an event request form and it has to get approved.” This year, students were involved in the process of selecting songs for the dance. Prax explained that if there were “any reference to drugs, sex, or alcohol, we had to look into it and get it approved. I went through the song list with my executive Student Government Association team, and Keri Lewis has been going through it as well. We went through it and tried to sort yes, no, and maybe.”

Every year, there is a theme for the dance, and this year is no different. Prax “pulled together a group of students. It consisted of the class council events persons, and then I asked students if they wanted to help plan the dance. There is a group of seven of us and we started talking theme ideas.” After watching several movies, they decided on Aladdin and Arabian Nights. When the theme was announced in chapel, there was a positive response from the student body.

With everything going on Homecoming weekend, why should students come? Prax says that “it’s fun, and it is the only free dance we have, and it’s the only formal dance that’s open to all students.” This year, there was a chocolate fountain and a smoothie bar and a lot of food. 201 students came to the dance.

If you need something to do the next Homecoming weekend, stop by the Homecoming dance.