Rondelet loses momentum

By Staff Editorial     2/26/09 6:00pm

After the bungling of Rondelet this week, the Rice Program Council's spring formal officially has a checkered history (see story, page 7). In 2007, the dance was axed for the first time since 1947, but was resurrected in 2008. At the time, it looked like 2007's cancellation was a fluke, as the 2008 version was well-attended and well-received.But after two abrupt cancellations in the last three years, we feel that it is finally time to nix the idea of having a spring formal entirely. If Rondelet did not have a tainted reputation coming into this semester, it surely does now. With little record of success in recent memory, students will be disinclined to attend a possible second resurrection next year.

However, this does not mean that the notion of a Rondelet resurrection should be totally abandoned. Once the current crop of Rice students exits through the Sallyport, the memory of Rondelet will march off with it. Thus, with no one to recall the dance's abrupt termination, a campaign of revival can begin. There is no reason that anyone should be principally opposed to a spring formal, so once people realize what is in store, they may jump at the opportunity.

Before Rondelet is reinstated, there are other aspects of the planning that need to be reexamined. After all, there is a reason that only 60 tickets were sold. Some believe the recent glut of after-school activities, such as 100 Days, Archi-Arts and Lovett College's Casino Party, may have created opposition to the spring formal, but this is patently erroneous. The 2009 version of 100 Days was the most well-attended in history, while both Archi-Arts and the Casino Party had far more than 60 students attend. These three bashes were all within four days of one another, while Rondelet was more than a week later.

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The real problem, if it can be whittled to one, was in the lack of marketing. Instead of a barrage of signage, lunch-time reminders and Facebook messages, the RPC's marketing efforts were in brief and infrequent supply. Few people knew about Rondelet, creating a situation of both apathy and ignorance.

If there is one positive to the lack of marketing, it is that few knew the dance had been cancelled. Unfortunately, this benefit is more than a bit disheartening. With all of these factors bringing the dance to an ill-fated standstill, we hope the RPC will forego an immediate revivification of the dance, and instead let its ruined memory slip into the past.

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