A defining moment in Spence’s history: Sofia Scarselli ’21 and Jennevieve Culver’s ’21 Halloween Dance of 2019
In future years, when memories of the Spence School are recounted by old and young, a particular event will be remembered as a defining moment in history: the Halloween Dance of 2019. The dance, performed by myself and Jennevieve Culver ’21, was the result of painstaking rehearsals and hours spent searching the internet for costume inspiration.
When Jennevieve and I decided to dress up together for the holiday, we took on stress comparable to Heidi Klum preparing her costume for her annual Halloween party. That night, we pushed our homework aside and were on the phone for hours as we scrolled through Pinterest hoping to find a worthy costume. Despite hours of research, we found nothing. This continued through the weeks leading up to Halloween. The night before the doomed day, we had accepted the fact that our biggest fear was on the verge of coming true: we would arrive at school in weak, uncreative costumes.
However, that was a fate we could not accept. At 9:00 PM on October 30th, despite her exhaustion, Jennevieve changed out of her pajamas, hopped on a bus, and we began the odyssey that would be our search for a suitable Halloween costume. We met at a Spirit Halloween in Midtown, which was filled to the brim with other Halloween failures. We entered the store with low hopes.
We wandered down the aisles, aimlessly searching for inspiration. After multiple laps around the store, we were prepared to give up. As we made our way to the exit, we passed by two bald caps; our mouths dropped to the floor, and our eyes beamed with inspiration. We telepathically understood that this would be our costume, and we were going to find a fitting outfit to compliment the show-stopping accessory.
After another hour spent searching Spirit Halloween, we had successfully produced two plumber costumes, complete with oil-face-paint and “grandpa glasses.” We went our separate ways and, as soon as we got home, we borrowed our fathers’ pants and face-timed each other to review the final look; we were elated.
Fast-forward to Halloween day. Jennevieve and I met in the townhouse bathroom to assemble our costumes. As we exited in our grandfather-plumber-gear, we beamed with unmatchable confidence. With this being my most complimented outfit of all time, I felt unstoppable. As Jennevieve and I entered our biology class, we were asked whether or not we would be performing at lunch. A dance was uncharted territory for us, but our costumes gave us the confidence we needed to succeed, so we immediately began creating our performance. Between third period and lunch, we spent every waking moment choreographing our dance. We embraced our inner Maddy Zeigler while unleashing Abby Lee Miller and produced a showstopping performance that will inevitably go down in history (and hopefully on TikTok’s For You page). And so, hours after the saga began, we took the stage, waltzing with indescribable grace in front of the entire Upper School (students and faculty) to the tune of Hotel California by The Eagles. Our prize: Winners of the Best Costume.