With the competition over, students ditched the more cumbersome elements of their costumes and began dancing. But there was another competition ahead: Couples donned their boogie shoes for a vivacious swing-dance contest! Over three rounds, 16 couples swung away and put their best moves on display, judges evaluating their skill, rhythm, and energy. Winning this year’s contest were Laura Castillo (’26) and Thomas Langley (’26), who kept swinging long after they were crowned victors, leading the way for a snowball competition that brought everyone to the dance floor.
“I had a lot of fun in the competition,” said Laura. “We got to impress the tutors with our dancing! It was also great to see my class really show their creativity in the costume contest.”
Three hours later and 3,000 miles to the west, the sophomores at TAC-California went the extra mile to summon the Halloween spirit. Their decorations in St. Joseph Commons took their inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe: a faux stained-glass homage to the Masque of the Red Death hung on the wall, while the Telltale Heart sat onstage beneath paper ravens hung from the ceiling.
The sophomores began by entertaining their guests with a video redolent of The Twilight Zone, parodying numerous popular Halloween movies in a bizarre story about a student transported from a fictional TAC-California to the real one. After abundant onscreen hijinks, the video concluded, and the dancegoers adjourned to St. Joseph Commons to swing and waltz to the live music of a student band, whose repertoire for the evening focused on classic songs from the 1950s and ’60s.
