Debutante Dances

By: Ki’ana Westbrook

It is now here a once in a lifetime event that most high schoolers are looking forward to…prom! The night everyone spends hours getting ready for this event, the time the schools are flooded with students dressed in their best attire, the time when everyone comes together to dance the night away. It is now here a once in a lifetime event that most high schoolers are looking forward to…prom!

Originally the prom was not always called the prom, according to history.com the word, “Short for “promenade,” proms are modeled after the debutante balls of high society.” The prom in its origins was originally only for the upper class and wasn’t open for everyone to come, but now all seniors no matter what class are permitted to come together to celebrate the end of an era, and to celebrate their last year together.

The prom doesn’t only originate from those kinds of dances, but also from Greek roots which according to history.com were held to, “honor elite men and their transition into adult society called symposia,” and the Romans celebrated, “a young man’s coming of age with a similar banquet, called a “convivium.”  Even though these events celebrate very different subjects they had a lot of the same elements that we use today in society and were still a celebration to commemorate the end or beginning of something important to those cultures.

Not only is there the difference of cultures that evolved the prom is what it is today, but also TV through movies and shows. There are many Disney movies that a lot of people grew up with that celebrate prom and make it the main focus of many of those shows and movies. Not only early Disney movies and shows but also old classics that didn’t directly show prom but show other types of dances with the same type of atmosphere.

Prom isn’t just an evolution from celebrating the upper class or noble men and women, but a culmination of celebration for everyone to enjoy some of their new and bittersweet beginnings or endings of eras. It has been popularized by social media and is now an event so many look forward to.

A celebration for everyone to enjoy!

Photo from: shodaland.com