You’re nervous. Your palms are sweating profusely and you can feel your heart beating out of your chest at a lightning fast speed. You’re almost worried you might have a heart attack. Panic sets in about the events that are about to unfold. Do you have everything ready? Did you spell everything correctly? What if they say no? Your mind is a whirlpool of thoughts and emotions. These next few moments determine if you’ll go to the dance alone or with that special someone.

  Part of every teenager’s high school experience is the dances. There’s homecoming, formals, and most importantly, prom. Part of going to a dance is finding a date. Asking someone to a dance has become a huge deal. The standard expectation is to make a scene, a poster with some corny pun, and single out whoever you’re asking. Is that really how it has to be?

  Asking someone to a dance, especially a smaller dance like formal or homecoming, should be special, but not always extravagant. While I’m not against a big fancy scene that makes whoever is being asked feel special, it doesn’t always have to be the case. A dance proposal should be dependent on the person you’re asking, your relationship with said person, and which dance you are attending.

  Depending on who the person being asked is, they might always want a big proposal, or they might not want anything more than a simple ‘Would you go to the dance with me?’ Another large part of deciding whether or not to ask your crush to dance in a spectacular or simple but sweet way is their own personal preference. Stephanie Voegele, senior, said, “It depends on the person’s preference. If the person you’re asking likes the spotlight, then go big. If they’re a bit shyer, a simple proposal works fine too.”

  Couples who have been together for a while, logically assume that they are going to dances together. While I believe one partner should still ask the other to the dance, it doesn’t have to be extravagant. For example, taking your significant other to a semi-fancy dinner (possibly Olive Garden) and asking them while out on a date. Even just asking by surprising your date with some flowers would suffice.

  Another factor in whether the proposal should be a big scene is the importance of the dance. The biggest dance in all of high school is prom, an only upperclassmen dance that you only experience twice in your high school career–logically this makes it one of the more important proposals. While homecoming and formal are smaller dances with equally smaller proposals.  “I think asking someone in a big way depends on the person who’s asking, who’s being asked, and the dance. If it’s between snowball or prom, prom is big and formal isn’t as big,” said Justin Best, senior.

  As prom approaches, remember to do your research. Find out if your crush is into the spectacular, big scene promposal or if they’re into the simpler, less extravagant promposal.

Caitlyn Tsukamoto, Editor in Chief