A group of Palo Alto High School students planned a dance at the Palo Alto Art Center for tonight, but it was canceled yesterday due to safety and capacity concerns, according to a Facebook message sent out by co-coordinator senior Philip Chen.
Chen, junior Emily Benatar and sophomore Maddie Dahm coordinated the dance themed “Where the Wild Things Are.” Although Benatar is co-president of the Green Team and Dahm is co-president of the Paly Environmental Initiative, the dance event is unaffiliated with Paly. All the planning and ticket sales were conducted off-campus, Benatar said.
Chen, Benatar and Dahm will be refunding tickets at the Town and Country crosswalk beginning next Monday. Money will only be refunded to the person who bought the ticket, and students must present their ticket for a refund, according to Chen.
Chen said that the coordinators attempted to find another venue to host the dance, but could not do so on such short notice. They will, however, continue working to make a spring dance happen at a later date.
“Many places such as The Garden Court Hotel said they could not do it since they lacked personnel for such short notice,” Chen wrote. “More information will be provided by Monday about the new location once we work things out.”
The Palo Alto Art Center informed the students planning the dance of the cancellation two days before the event, citing concerns that the dance had effectively become an open invitation which created an unsafe environment, according to Chen.
“We apologize for the short notice of the cancellation,” wrote Lam Do, an administrator for the City of Palo Alto’s Community Services Department. “However, we only recently learned of the extent of how much the dance has been publicized and become an open invitation.”
“As discussed, your facility rental reservation was canceled due to safety and capacity concerns which had the potential to create an unsafe environment and be inappropriate for the facility,” Do continued. “Although you intended to remain within the capacity limits of the facility, as an open invitation the issues of crowd control, the safety of those attending and/or unable to gain admission, and the welfare of the Art Center facility and staff are of paramount importance. Thus, the decision was made to cancel the facility rental.”
The decision to cancel the dance was made after consultation with the Palo Alto Police Department, Palo Alto Community Services Department, and the City Manager’s Office, according to Do.
Chen believes that this signals the end of using city-operated facilities as a venue for student-hosted dances.
“As of this moment, all Palo Alto city-owned facilities will most definitely be a no-go,” Chen said.
Editor’s Note: Chen is not an officer of either the Green Team or the Paly Environmental Initiative; Benatar is co-president of the former and Dahm is co-president of the latter. The current version of the story reflects this change.