The Dress to Impress Rave on Thursday drew 184 students and rave reviews. The theme, Dress to Impress, was based on a popular game where users compete to craft the best outfit. The game has experienced a recent cultural resurgence.
Attendees were given cards at the beginning of the night and star stickers which they could give to other students to put on their cards, mirroring the outfit rating system of the game. At the end of the night, students could turn in their cards at check in to compete for the grand prize. The three students with the most stars walked (or strutted) away from the evening with Bluetooth karaoke mics.
Available at the check-in desk as well as scattered across the ballroom were fashion-themed accessories like feather boas, tiaras and plastic rings students could accessorize themselves with. Complementing this fashion-forward event was a photo booth in the corner.
“It’s really cool to see CSUMB put on something so fun and different – I’m living for it to be honest,” said third-year environmental studies major Raul Deju.
The ballroom was also complete with a large projector and gaming station where students could line up to take turns playing Dress to Impress on the big screen.
Commanding the dance floor was a psychedelic DJ booth brought by professional DJ Dan Utica. For the first two hours, the booth had a large screen with graphics to match the music and whirling neon lights – until the excess power draw blew a breaker in the Otter Student Union.
For the last hour, students danced under a moderate amount of neon, which did nothing to kill their excitement. “It was probably one of our favorite crowds, the students showed up, they wanted to party,” said Utica, the emcee for the evening. Regular raver and science illustration graduate student Natalie Chan threw up five fingers on each hand to rate the rave out of 10.
The event was equally loved by the team that planned it, a new type of on-campus event in the lineage of the Shrek Rave last spring. “This is the best themed, all-around event we’ve ever done,” said Dan Burfiend, senior coordinator of student organizations, leadership development and assessment.
Hope Reis, business major and programming specialist for Associated Students said, “We wanna continue our raves but we wanna keep switching the themes so no one gets bored, I think for next year we’re thinking neon lights.”
