As with Mather, there was a strong athleticpresence at the Cabot event.

"The freshman lacrosse team came out in force,"observed Michael J. Passarella `99 at the dance.

Some took issue with the choice of music,however, claiming that it didn't mesh with theatmosphere of the club.

"The waitress said they don't usually play thiskind of music," Nyereyegona said. "You should nothave to go to a formal and have to listen toCeline Dion--ever."

Unexpected Difficulties

Try as they might, no House Committee couldprepare for everything, and many formals suffereddue to unforeseen events.

Winthrop formal-goers endured awful weather.

Despite the tent and indoor dance spaces, thoseattending the formal still had to walk through thecourtyard unprotected in order to reach the dance.But most Winthrop residents put a positive face ondancing through the rain.

"I think [the rain] is getting more people ontothe dance floor," German said.

By the next night the sky had cleared somewhatfor the Eliot formal, but that didn't stop a firealarm from going off a few minutes after the musicstopped. The entire House, including nonfete-goers, ended up herded into the House's tinyfront courtyard.

Although the alarm's cause remains unknown, fogmachines did create a suspiciously thick haze inthe indoor dance floor during the fete. With sucha spooky mood in the dining hall, who knew whatwas going on?

"You never know who's lurking in the haze,"said Perry Wilson '01 of the smoke.

Wilson, who seemed fond of unexpected problems,noted earlier, "Frankly, I've always wanted aformal aboard a ship headed for disaster."

Eliot residents still refused to give up theirclaim to being king of House formals, however,fire alarm and all.

"When you compare [the fete] to other Houseformals, everything else is like 'Hello Kitty,'"said Knapp. "We're definitely in the upperechelon."