Add a tiki torch, beeping cars, and bewildered Yalies to those iPod commercials with anonymous silhouettes dancing to their own tunes, and you’d get WHRB’s own Dance Conspiracy. On Friday, Nov. 17, a mass of silent students got their groove on all around Harvard, listening to the same music via Harvard’s radio station—and all the shenanigans were organized by Harvard arts magazine Present! and funded by the Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisor program.
Over 100 students gathered at 9:30 p.m. in the Adams House Courtyard, where they received handheld radios and tuned into 95.3 WHRB-FM, Harvard’s student-run station. Serene classical soon gave way to a lively dance beat, at which point headphone-sporting students cheered and ran down the streets dancing, receiving directions on where to go over their headphones. The dancers got it on everywhere from the John Harvard statue (one student started dancing on the Puritan’s lap) to the steps of the Lampoon, finishing up in front of the WHRB station.
“It’s even better than it was two years ago, [it’s the] most inclusive party on campus,” says Grace C. Wilentz ’07.
Many non-Harvard students participated, including seventh-grader David I. Gaitsgory and his mom. Even Harvard’s rival for the weekend was represented, with a number of Yalies joining in.
But for some unfortunate thrill-seekers, the fun was dampened a bit by poor signal reception.
“We’re not only dancing to music people can’t hear, we’re dancing to music that doesn’t exist,” says Winifred A. Garet ’10.
The reception improved as the night went on, and the truly hardy weren’t stopped by the lack of music-they kept dancing anyway.
According to Nicholas L. Tsang ’07, Present! member and event organizer, Dance Conspiracy is the brainchild of David D. Mahfouda ’05.
Although the dance party was a silent one, praise was hardly unvoiced.
“I had to hold back tears,” says Tsang, “it was so good.”
