The Cupid Shuffle, a name known worldwide for its memorable dance, was brought to Malden High as Valentine's dance on February 10th for all to enjoy.
Tickets were sold for five dollars at lunch but were seven dollars if purchased at the door. After the first announcements on Instagram, students fled to the tables at lunch buying tickets left and right.
The first idea of the dance came up when the seniors were thinking about prom. It’s only a few months away, and tickets costing $80 per person is expensive for high school students but understandable for the amount of work and dedication put into it. They needed a way to lower the costs, and the Cupid Shuffle was one of their many ideas.
Saura Rathore, the class of 2023’s class president, stated, “We organized this event so that we have more money and can lower the ticket cost. We knew we wanted to do this, but we thought we were going to do this over the midterms or in the spring but we thought to postpone the event as Valentine’s day was coming up.”
As noted above, this dance stemmed from the many other options the seniors had. They wanted to “plan on having it in the spring like a spring soirée, like the juniors did last year but we decided to have it sooner instead because we thought Valentine's day would be a great time to do it,” stated Rathore.
The night before the dance there was a hiccup in the road as the dance had to be relocated to the cafeteria instead of the gym as originally planned. Rathore explained the original plans for the event, “the lights are going to be LED lights… and there’s going to be photobooths and music obviously. So overall, it’s just like how a typical dance would be.”
The location is said to have been changed due to the fact that the gym lights were unable to be turned off without it getting too dark. The cafeteria was a better space as they were able to have most of the lights off, reserving a third of them to illuminate the darkness on the other side.
Many students had a lot to say about this and even were upset about the change. Meryem Hikkaoui had strong feelings about this stating, “everyone needed to stop fixating on that and understand that we’re here for a good time. I think it was fun, we had our music, we had our dance, and we had [Michael] Lightbody serving drinks and food. I think some people should understand that some schools don’t get this and this was great for what we could’ve come up with in a month.”
The dance starting at 6 pm seemed to be a perfect time. The sun had just gone down, yet the air was full of anticipation. The cafeteria was beautifully decorated; streamers hung from the ceiling and hearts could be seen everywhere you turned. It was as if Cupid had shot his arrow into the cafeteria and filled the room with all the love he had in his heart. Students were enthusiastic about the dance as they came dressed to impress all their friends.
Throughout the night many remarkable and well-known songs played that united everyone on the dance floor. Songs like “The Electric Slide” by Richard Silver, “Cuff It” by Beyonce, “Wobble” by V.I.C., “Tití Mi Preguntó” by Bad Bunny, and the song of the night, the “Cupid Shuffle” by Cupid which had everyone on their feet.
“We wanted to create an environment for students to create fond high school memories,” Edmond Chen explained.
Even though the music jumped from genre to genre you could tell that love was in the air. The dance seemed to get everyone ready for Valentine's Day but still ready to party through the night. “I think the theme was there because it was all Valentines and everyone was in a more dancing mood,” said Allison Yu.
As the night came to an end everything started to slow down. Students exited the building with smiles on their faces and a feeling of sentimentality.
“I thought the dance was so much fun, I wasn’t expecting the music to be that good. All my friends and I were on our feet the whole night,” Erikah Macharia noted.
“People were actually dancing and having a good time, the music was good, whoever made the playlist did a really good job,” Mikayla Wilson added.
Students overall agreed that they had enjoyed the night and would come to another dance if given the opportunity. “I thought the class of 23 really pulled it together. They made it really inclusive with a lot of people choosing the music and it was just fun overall,” Hikkaoui stated. “I think if even more people showed up it would have been even more fun because everyone wants this type of stuff at Malden High. People always talk about how they want more dances and more events so we got an amazing event but not as many people showed up as they should have,” she continued.
Students also agreed that it quickly became hot in the cafeteria and continued to stay stuffy throughout the night. “I would’ve put an AC in the cafe or something, it was really hot in there,” Jazlyn Canuela mentioned.
On the topic of space Hikkauoi spoke about homecoming saying, “when we were outside for homecoming, everyone was too scattered and it was too big and not too many people wanted to go. It was just all over the place.”
“I feel like at homecoming the music was more chill but here everyone was up and dancing. It turned out really well,” Macharia added.
The Cupid Shuffle left students with many unforgettable memories that really brought all the classes together. Everyone was singing and dancing together even if they didn’t know each other. Students will definitely be looking forward to more dances and events hosted by Malden High School.
