Alameda High School - Acorn Yearbook (Alameda, CA)

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te the oo al bed “ £6 a ro Aw eh 4 : id ? HRHB IAN RITUALS t came in the unassuming form of a musical note. A simple black dot on paper, nobody knew of the strange and mysterious powers hidden within. It held the power to motivate people, young and old, to wield their bodies in ways wé never imagined; ways that bog- gled our minds, and often defied the laws of gravity. ‘It’’ was the rythmic ceremoni- al ritual we called dance. From the rain dance to interpretive dance, it kept up our esprit de corps in the midst of the studying, cramming, and sleeping we did in class. It was a way of releasing all the stress and anxiety we ex- perienced during the hundreds of tests we were force-fed throughout the school year. At the first dance of 1989, the Hola Freshmen Dance, one could clearly see exactly how AHS’s students soewed out their stress: through their trademark pat- terns of unusual gyrations. | arrived at the scene at 8:30 p.m., mak- ing sure | was fashionably late to the gala event. A doorway clogged with excited teenagers waving student body cards and money in the air awaited me. | walked nonchalantly through the door- way, paying my fee and flashing an unat- tractive ASB card to the cashier. Surveying the room carefully, | noted the interesting movement of the exodus in the middle of the rubber-covered gym floor. They all seemed to be content with releasing their anxiety by bobbing up and down in an irregular fashion. Linda Su Kim, one of the many gyrating students, de- cided to relax a bit and joined me on the bleachers. “There weren’t as many people as | ex- pected for the first dance, but | still had fun,” stated Kim. “The dee-jays, Music Masters, did a pretty good job in blending the ‘beat’ with the ‘modern,’ making the whole crowd happy.”’ While some preferred the slower, more sedated tone of the ballads, others, like Christina Chan, enjoyed the fast-paced beat of the latest dance mixes to “trip the light fantastic.’ “There’s more versatility in fast danc- ing,” Chan revealed. ‘‘Why stick to one certain style in slow dancing when you can fast dance any way you want?” Indeed, it was evident that nobody really stuck to one certain style. Even slam dancing, a form of entertainment re- served for the more adventurous, sprung up from time to time on various spots of the gym-turned-discotech. Yet all of the students, whether partial to rap or new wave, folk dancing or dirty dancing, were there to fulfill the single task of releasing the everpopular product of studying and work: stress. |, like all of the rest of the crew, found a secret pleasure in stomping the @ $$%%! out of my frustrations. |, too, found out how powerful and alluring the beckoning sounds of music could be in creating the undulating movements of some of the people on the dance floor. Dancing, | realized, gave everyone a chance to dance to their own unique tune. On the dance floor nobody could say that you were dancing incorrectly and take off points. There were no rules. Only the music and you, oblivious to the problems of everyday life. On ly you danc- ing with your own style to your own indi- vidual tune. CO a AI Pere ka TREE A Bouncers? At AHS? - Several slam- dancing men literally ‘bounce’ off of one another at the Hola Freshmen Dance. Slam-dancing was just one of the array of dance steps avail- able at the first dance of the year

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Am DAN AT THE RACES he bell rang, and in unison | heard my classmates push in their chairs and run out of the class- room in a violent rampage. What for, you ask? | didn’t know, but | was soon to find out. | walked out of my fourth period class and exited out of the main hall. There | saw it. Hoards of people sat on the gray cement school circle, waiting anxiously to experience the up and coming event. It was then that | saw the most terrifying, scarifying sight | have ever seen in my life: beefy football players strutted around the circle wearing the cheerleaders’ uniforms. Just when | thought it was all over, the studette cheerleaders ran out wearing the foot- ball players’ attire performing wild gyra- tions while flexing their throbbing mus- cles. “Didn’‘t you just love the part when the guys wore the skirts?’’ questioned Hope Heller as she turned back around to watch the remainder of the crazy antics. | sat there in total confusion when | saw other people coming out, starting to blow peanuts with a straw and shoving their faces into some unidentified white goop. What for, you ask? For class com- petition points, of course. What got into these people? Under usual conditions, these people were nor- mal, just like you and me; but this thing, which they call ‘rally’, moved them to do things not even Pee Wee Herman would be caught doing. | asked Janice Ma exactly what was going on. Instead of answering my ques- tion, she just exclaimed in total rejoice, “| just love it when people show a lot of spirit for our school!’ There was only one thing | didn’t un- derstand about this rally; it seemed like everyone was having a great time, ex- cept me, of course. As | continued watching this most out of the ordinary event and trying to enjoy my lunch, despite of the ear piercing tune of ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy”’, | finally realized that this rally was just not for me. Other people may like to wear strange clothes, or watch people do it, and some people might even like to do those crazy stunts. Now come fo think of it, it might be fun. “| just love it when people show a lot of spirit for our school.’ —Janice Ma EMP SEAS AV SESSA Bae ff Le Ff PRS