As this year’s prom approaches, the record low school dance attendance rates have indicated that school dances, once an integral piece of the high school experience, may no longer hold the same allure.

An increasing number of students have begun to organize their own dances at such independent venues as Lucie Stern Community Center and Club Illusions.

According to Nabeel Sami, the Associated Student Body junior site council representative, the trend emerged when Paly clubs began to host dances to raise money, but students have since begun to expand on their themes, hosting dances to celebrate the end of semester finals and to benefit causes outside the community.

Senior Evan Gitterman, also known as DJ Abunai, performed at the “Dance Not War” joint fundraiser for the Paly Kiva and Make-A-Wish clubs. Gitterman saw several reasons for the shift in dance sponsors.

“I think it [the increase in student-hosted dances] stems from both discontent with the school dances and from the realization that the dances are very effective fundraisers,” Gitterman said. “I think the main reason students prefer the independent dances is because of the absence of breathalyzers, no censorship on music choices, and the dark and chaperone-free dance floor.”

Sophomore Maddie Kau agreed that school dances are lacking in ambiance, but still saw reasons to retain them as a high school institution.

“I don’t think all school dances should be replaced with independent ones because school dances are such an integral part of high school culture that more people feel comfortable going to them,” Kau said. “In my opinion, we should have fewer dances so the ones they do hold can have a bigger budget and be much awesomer.”

While ASB hosted a successful Homecoming dance this year with attendance over 500 strong, ASB had to cancel the traditional Winter Formal due to lack of interest.

However, Vice Principal Jerry Berkson voiced his opinion on why Winter Formal was unsuccessful.

“It was organized on a Monday for the next Saturday,” Berkson said. “Kids didn’t have enough time to sign up. I think that if you actually look at the numbers you’ll see that they’re up [from past dances].”

In light of this decision, however, ASB does seem to be attempting to take student feedback into account. There will be no Sadie Hawkins’ Dance this year, according to ASB Vice President George Brown.

“ASB really wants to pool all of its resources together to make Prom and the Last Chance Dance the best that they can possibly be,” Brown said.

In addition, despite the decline in student interest in school-sponsored dances in general, the social institution of prom and all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding remain largely untarnished.

“Prom should be awesome this year and I am not too worried about attendance,” Brown said.”We’ve been planning prom since last school year and have really focused on a few key things that make prom what it is, so I am very hopeful that it will be a success.”

Gitterman echoed these sentiments.

“Prom is much more than a dance,” Gitterman said. “It is an integral tradition that most juniors and seniors are still going to attend.”