Prom Night '08: The Review

The ladies strutted in their ravishing gowns embellished with captivating accessories as they entered the grand ballroom. Some opted for a scanty outfit, a clear sign of the effects of the economic downturn. The men encapsulated the formality of the event with their coats, ties and leather shoes. It was a resplendent masquerade night to be remembered for the rest of their lives.



















TPJC 22nd Student Council. (Picture courtesy of Nazurah Atiqah)

The Prom Night was a culmination of the hard work and determination of the 23rd Student Council. The students, including me, had high expectations for the event. In this review, I will sum up the thoughts and feelings by members of the audience. Therefore, be prepared for the criticisms too.

The emcee for the night was Mr Richardo from Adrenalin Events. On a scale of one to ten, I think he deserved a six. Firstly, he managed to host the event smoothly with only one or two slips of the tongue. Secondly, he was very enthusiastic. He passed the energy to the audience with his humourous lines and consistently tried to maintain the level of enthusiasm by encouraging us to scream and support our team members during the games.

However, as the night turned colder, the energy started to wane. Our short attention spans got the better of us and we soon began to ignore the games and took pictures with our friends instead. The emcee's jokes started to turn lame as he blathered on and started to create name jokes. In short, although he did try to keep the zealous crowd alive, in the end it was just an ephemeral fervour.

If I could pick the most entertaining performer for the night, I would definitely choose Ami Yousoff as the winner hands down. In fact, most if not all of my friends agreed that he was the star of the night. No one expected him to krump vociferously on stage during one of the games. It was hilarious and he was deservedly rewarded with a standing ovation. And oh, his awkward gait while imitating Indiana Jones was amusing too. This funnyman sure has guts, I told myself.

I think the food and beverages served were all right. Overall, I would rate a B+ for them. My personal favourite was the fish dish (I can't remember the exact name of the dish). The jellyfish dish was unexpected and we were thrilled to taste it for the very first time (Haha). However, I have to agree with some of my friends that knives should have been provided so that we could cut the meat with ease and avoid a situation whereby the meat might jump off the plate suddenly!



















TPJC Canoeing Team. (Photo courtesy of Koh Han Jie)

I thought the door gifts were reasonable. I received many complains that they were inadequate and unattractive. To me, the greatest souvenir that I brought home from the night was the set of photos that I took together with my gorgeous best friends. Door gifts do not really matter to us.

Now here comes the (nasty) criticisms...

Firstly, there should have been more transparency on how the nominees for the Prom king and queen were selected. I received two versions of the voting process - one told me that a team of councillors chose them but the other informed me that only one councillor had the power to choose the nominees. Which is true I do not know, but whatever it is, it sure made some attendees slightly unhappy. I am not disputing the winners of the Prom king and queen because I believe they looked amazing and truly deserved it. In fact, my whole table voted for them. However, there is another huge group of people who felt that they should have been given the right to nominate the Prom king and queen. Anyway, congratulations to Hafiz and Mae for winning the Prom king and queen contest respectively that night!

Secondly, the event was not filled with heart-pumping or spellbinding performances. Most of the musicians who took the stage were accompanied by acoustic guitars and a soothing voice. The pace of the event was a bit too relaxed. Perhaps, the event organizers were trying too hard to retain the serenity of the masquerade night. Nevertheless, it would definitely be a lot better if a powerful voice or the sharp sounds from a violin would suddenly overwhelm the entire ballroom. A lucky draw segment would help too. Overall, the entertainment value was low.

Thirdly, several members of the audience were displeased that some students (the minority) actually walked around and took pictures in the middle of the ballroom, therefore blocking the view of the rest of the attendees seated at the back. I believe they were too eager to take a group photo together, so much so that they forgot that there are people seated at the back who wanted to view the performances on stage (especially during the Prom king and queen segment! Oh boy...). Not too much of a problem I agree, but still a little courtesy would make a huge difference.

Next, I think masquerade masks should have been provided during the event. This suggestion was actually brought forward by my classmate as well as one of the readers in this blog who mentioned how masks were provided during his graduation night which coincidentally used the same theme as ours. In my opinion, we have to be realistic when it came to this. I am pretty confident that the councillors intended to do so, but the lack of funds did not permit them to provide the masks. Nonetheless, a special counter to loan a few masks for photo shoots could have been set up.

Finally, some of the attendees commented that the the dance floor should have been opened for a longer period of time. They argued that the time allocated for the final segment was too short and therefore unsatisfactory. I believe the event organizers had no choice but to end the dance segment early because the ballroom was booked for a specified duration of time and they could not exceed it.

It was definitely a fantastic night, but to describe it as magical seems superfluous. Nevertheless, (most importantly) thank you to the 23rd Student Council for making the event happen.