This is a wonderful idea and I hope it goes well.

My Paly student had no idea about it when I mentioned it at home.

Ditto. I think it's a great idea, but, at least at Paly, the word has not gone out. And having a parent hear about it first and tell the kid, as is happening, is not a way to make an event cool. The kids need to get it out on Facebook in a bigger way.

When I was growing up in So.Cal, we had one of these "all-school" dance events monthly and it was big...packed everytime and loads of fun.

If they make a point to schedule it consistently, monthly (or even more frequently) I am confident it will succeed and be not only loads of fun, but a great way to broaden friendships, horizons, and offer fun stress release for these kids who carry so much stress with them these days!

How fun!! I wish my class had done that. Back in my day 95-ish. We just had JLS, no Jordan yet. So Paly and Gunn students all knew each other from middle school, so a combined dance would have been so much fun.

This is SUCH a great idea! I remember being a teen growing up around here in the 60s and how I so wanted something like this. It was deadsville most of the time...

Teens are bursting to get out and discover, to dance, to meet other teens, to have fun. They need a safe place where they can meet new folks.... where they can try on new selves.

We used to have these all the time in the early 80's when Paly and Gunn were more like sister schools and not cross-town rivals. Watch the hyperbole there!

It is a great idea! There is a reason we haven't seen many of these dances, though... These types of events are very hard to supervise and monitor.

I have heard kids talking about how there will be no breathalizers at this dance. I'm not sure if this is true but I hope the people putting it on are prepared for these sorts of issues.

I think there was a Gunn/Paly dance about 10 years ago. I had one student at each school for 2 years, so kept up with what was going on. But my kids never wanted to go to the school dances because too many people were drunk. I hope it's improved in the last 10 years. They definitely need the breathalizers.

The Tri-School Formal used to be an annual event when I was in high school. "Tri-School?" you ask? Cubberley wasn't a community center back then. (Yes, I'm old). Glad to see the kids reviving this tradition, even if they are short one school.

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This dance doesn't seem to be on many kids radar - they are pretty unaware of it. I hope its a success, because its a great idea!

Thank you to all students and adults who worked hard to plan this great event!!

There is defintely a "wait and see" element to this dance. If it is even a moderate success, it will be better attended next time.

There is a wariness amongst those who do not like Paly dances because of the perceived ideas of who goes and what happens. Some kids will not go because they don't like the atmosphere even though they loved the middle school dances.

This is something new and there is an excitement, but if it does not work it may just be because it is the first one. I hope it goes well, but whatever happens, I hope that there will be more and that the word will go round that these are fun events.

Yes, back in the day we had the tri-schools. It was run joinlty by the schools and it was tons of fun. They were formals and we held them off site usually at the Cabana

Hope papd is nearby during and after the dance. After all, there were some issues with the last teen dance at Illusions.

My 23yo son, a 2005 PALY grad, is among the chaperones, safety considertations are definitely part of the program, and I think it's great that some young adults close in age are part of the duty, it is very different than when parents and older adults are chapersones.

My kids went last night and had a great time. I hope this will be repeated.

This is very inaccurate.

In 08, Paly's first sadies in a while was open to Gunn students in an attempt to make it for both High Schools.

And Since the summer after 08, "Klub Ice" was partially formed for this exact purpose, to gather people from all high schools. Since it was summer and the student Government hadn't been successful at organizing such a dance yet, it was a group of students outside of the school who hosted the event.

This is by far not the first of it's kind and such, "all school" events have been going on continuously for the past couple years.

I know as I was part of the team that made Paly's Sadies open to both, and I was a promoter for the original Club Illusions teen dances.

Annie

Thanks for letting us know that your kids had a great time.

I would love to find out more about the evening, how many kids, were they mainly freshman and sophomores, more or less even from both schools, etc.

Is there going to be another?

This event is being held for its second year, at Lucie Stern Community Center, on March 31, 2012. We plan to make it much bigger and more inclusive than last year!