Outside, the icy wind sends a chill down Cambridge’s spine. Few dare to venture outside at all, instead choosing to gather around the gas stove and huddle for warmth. A black car pulls up to a brick hotel, its tall towers pouring additional shade over the already-darkened avenues. Defying human pain, a girl steps out in a short dress with no stockings. History tells us she should shudder as the February frost bites at her skin, but she waltzes with the grace of an elk into the lobby. This, Cambridge Rindge and Latin, is the Winter Ball.

“I wanted something to get lit to,” stated sophomore Andy Naranjo on his reasoning for attending the gala. Naranjo had gone once previously, his freshman year, and added that he liked it overall: “It was a good idea.”

The idea of the Winter Ball became a reality on Friday, February 2nd, 2018. The dance sold around 200 tickets, but the Varsity Basketball home game could have played a role in lower attendance than previous years. One plan to increase attendance would be lowering the price. Ajani Acloque, a member of Student Government, said he thought the dance was “fairly successful” but there could have been a bigger turnout. Junior Anthony Grassi added that the cost of tickets could prevent some from attending, “A media caf dance [could be] something fairly affordable.”

Gallery • 3 Photos

Anyi Folkers

However, the Winter Ball was well worth the price. Nia Callender, a junior, said “I requested the wobble, and they played the wobble.” Callender has attended the dance a total of three times, and though she looks back at her underclassman Winter Ball days with a longing nostalgia, she concedes that her junior year experience was OK. When asked if she’d go again, she responded with an affirmative: “I guess so.”

One of Callender’s classmates, Gassendina Lubintus, appreciated the high-functioning system that is the Winter Ball. “[I liked how] organized it was and how everyone came. No one cared if they danced badly or not. It was just whatever.” Dance-phobes, though, should have no fear, for you can get through the Winter Ball without dancing at all—you just need to know how to run. Lubintus mentioned a new kind of activity that appeared at this Winter Ball: sprinting. “There was this one reggaeton song that was playing and then everyone was running outside of the dance tiles, even though it was sort of a mess because there was pushing and shoving,” Lubintus said.

She was quick to add, however, that there was a sort of beauty to this teenage stampede: a beauty that encapsulates the essence of the Winter Ball. Lubintus said, “[It was nice] because we all came together and ran.”

This piece also appears in our February print edition.