Turnabout returns to West Chicago Community High School after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The Student Council-sponsored dance will be held on February 24 in Commons. 

Tickets for the dance are $20 per person. Sales are happening online and in-person this month. 

Turnabout is, traditionally, a dance at which social norms are flipped. Historically, women ask men to attend a turnabout (or Sadie Hawkins) dance, and pay for the date in its entirety. The idea is to flip tradition on its head and empower women, but women in today’s society already ask men to dances, and/or often go to these social events in groups of friends. 

“Now, as far as encouraging this tradition, I don’t know how much of a tradition it is here at WEGO, or even how much it is breaking the traditional male role of taking the lead on the asking and paying for the dance,” Social Studies teacher and Student Council adviser Candace Fikis said.

The theme of this year’s Turnabout is “Hollywood/Red Carpet”. Students are encouraged to dress in finery for the winter dance. 

“The Student Council is extremely excited! Only our senior class has experienced Turnabout, as school shut down just a week after the dance. I encourage everyone – not just underclassmen – to go and experience a fun break. Our goal is to take all the great feedback from Homecoming and apply it to every dance – including Turnabout,” senior Bella Wiehle, Student Council President, said. 

WEGO held its last Turnabout in 2020, just before the start of the pandemic, and prior to that dance, Turnabout was a semi-regular occurrence.

Students at West Chicago Community High School are looking forward to the event, but expressed concern about the music. Representatives for Student Council explained that they will release a form before the dance so students can send in song requests that will be passed on to the DJ. 

“I think Turnabout is fun. I went my freshman year and I just feel like they need to take in feedback from the students and, like, apply songs that we actually requested; ’cause I feel like they asked us what songs that we recommended [for Homecoming], but they didn’t play any of the songs we actually recommended,” said senior Kyle Dieter. 

According to Student Council, the DJ for this February’s dance is a WCCHS alum, Andres Cuautle.