Fright Fest
Community gathers to celebrate Halloween with performances and games
Photo: Sydney Goitia-Doran
Members of the dance class perform “Thriller” at the sophomore and senior Halloween assembly.
For the first time in three years, the Upper School dance class carries on the tradition of performing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at this year’s Halloween assembly.
ASB President and junior Kyan Rosenthal shared that ASB started planning the assembly during the summer, and found it difficult to decide when and where to hold the event.
“A big problem with Halloween and this year in general is spacing,” Rosenthal said. “We just can’t have an assembly with the whole school in Founders anymore.”
After weighing their options, ASB decided on a split assembly in Founders Hall, which limited the events they could do because there is less space due to the musical set and there is no food allowed in the theater.
“We are pushing a pie eating contest the Monday before Thanksgiving outside during lunch. We’re trying to keep some of the same activities in a different format,” Rosenthal said. “There’s a lot of moving pieces, especially this year.”
After several brainstorming sessions and some inspiration from Tik Tok, ASB decided on a mummy wrapping competition, candy bucket toss and costume contest.
“I really liked the costume contest. I thought that was a lot of fun because you really get to see everyone’s costumes and it gets them really involved,” Rosenthal said. “The senior costume got a lot of seniors involved obviously so that was really cool.”
Another fan favorite is the annual dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” performed by members of the dance class. Junior Rene Quiroga performed in it this year and especially appreciated the creativity involved in putting together costumes.
“The beret that I wore was actually put on at the last minute by Ms. Klein right before we went up. She was like, ‘How about you try this on’ and then I put it on and then she tilted it a bit,” Quiroga said. “And she was like, ‘There. That’s perfect.’ So, very spontaneous, but very fun.”
Classroom Assistant and Alum Phoenix Lim-Bassallo showed the dance class a video of her “Thriller” performance in 2009. Everyone’s excitement to participate at the time was inspiring to Quiroga.
“I think more people should take dance because it’s a really fun class,” Quiroga said. “I feel like finding a place where people feel more confident to take dance and express themselves is a step we need to take.”