Seattle Prep’s Tolo dance has gotten a new makeover this year, so instead of the semi-formal Tolo dance where the girls ask guys, ASB has decided leave behind the fancy outfits and turn to creative costumes. This year’s theme was Disney, which means students dressed up in wide variety of their favorite Disney-related costumes. Senior class president Al Bernal explained the choice behind the theme: “We thought Disney was something that most people were familiar with and could relate to. It wasn’t too general or too narrow. Perfect for people to get excited, think about their childhood, and get up the attitude.”

ASB usually starts the Tolo planning process a month before the dance date, and just a few weeks after Homecoming. This year, during the planning meetings, student body representatives felt a change was needed: “I think that the biggest reason was to try and make more people come to the dance and make it more enjoyable,” said sophomore Bea Franklin.

“Tolo is our least attended dance and feedback has never been great,” added Bernal, “We felt something needed to change, we needed to make people more excited.”

Because of a new transition such as this, the dance received many different reactions. ASB was nervous, but excited to see how this change was accepted in the Prep community: “From what I’ve heard, the initial reaction was that people were kind of upset, but now I think students are getting more excited for the dance and the costumes part,” said Franklin.

Bernal added “We were really concerned about how people would react. We hope people have an open mind to the new theme. [Themes] might not be the solution to boring Tolos, but we are hoping we can try different themes in years to come. Fingers crossed that things are changing for the better.”

ASB members wanted to test out a themed dance as an alternative to the semi-formal Tolos and are unsure if this is a change that will stay for following years. They want to make sure that this year is successful before more themes are seen in future dances.