There was once a time when dance asks weren’t just posters. They were productions. They were extravagant. They were full of energy. However, in recent years, the amount of dance asks on campus has decreased significantly. Why is that? Associate Head of School Kyle Riches, Associated Student Body President Leo Gray, and sophomore class president Caitlyn Kramer have some thoughts on why this tradition has shifted.

   When Riches was a student at Pinewood from 1998-2011, it was tradition for students to take part in over-the-top, extravagant asks. He said that instead of solely using a poster, like most do today, students opted for more interactive asks. One of these was a balloon scavenger hunt that started in Los Altos and went all the way to Upper Campus with someone holding a sign every 300 feet. Riches believes that the biggest difference between now and then is the increasing prominence of social media.

   “It’s funny just seeing the videos of dance asks now, because it’s like, ‘Hey, here’s a poster. Now, come take a picture,’” Riches said.

   Riches hypothesized that students might feel awkward being posted on social media. While this may be one contributing factor, another might be that the norm nowadays isn’t to ask someone.

   “It used to be the norm to ask people to go, and they were very much outward facing, so everyone was doing it,” Riches said.

   Riches said that this created an environment where it wasn’t awkward or embarrassing to ask someone because that’s just what everyone did.

   Similarly, Gray speculated that the lack of dance asks might be due to the stigma that asking someone implies romantic intent.

  “People might feel nervous because they think that asking someone means that they’re asking a crush out, but it could just be like asking a friend,” Gray said.

   Kramer believes COVID played a large role in the decrease of spirit at Pinewood.

   “COVID made these new norms; the norms now are different from what they used to be before,” Kramer said.

   Kramer stressed that having good role models are crucial to keeping the spirit alive on campus.

   “I think it kind of starts with your older grades, and if they’re doing it you’re gonna see that on Instagram, and you’d be like ‘oh as a younger grade, we should do it’, and that kind of creates a chain reaction,” Kramer said.

   Even though, to some, it seems like this lack of spirit might reach a dead-end, Riches said he sees changes starting to occur and believes that the Pinewood spirit is making a comeback.

   “From what I’ve seen over the last few years, we are totally on the way back to what I feel like it used to be around here,” Riches said.