Hundreds of students attended the Techno Traffic Lights Dance, which was hosted by Weber State University’s fraternity, Pi Theta Xi, on Friday night. Students came clad in traffic-light colors to announce their relationship statuses: green if they’re single, yellow if “it’s complicated” or red if they’re taken.
Taylor Kipp, president of Pi Theta Xi, and other fraternity brothers hosted a booth in the Shepherd Union Building during the week leading up to the dance. The fraternity played techno music, handed out fliers and let every student passing by know about the event.
“This dance is the major fundraiser for the whole year,” Kipp said. “It raises the funds we need to host more events for Weber State students.”
In addition to the fraternity, the sorority on campus, Delta Chi Nu, helped advertise, sponsor and manage the event.
“We as Greeks do events like this to break out of the typical stereotype of only throwing house parties,” said Tiarra Collins, president of Delta Chi Nu. “We aim to show that we can have fun and sponsor campus events like this one.”
The sorority helped advertise by contacting the Monster Energy Drink company about sponsoring the event.
“This may be a fraternity-hosted event — however, we’re just a big family and we’ll always be there to support them,” said Hailey Prestwood, another sister in the sorority.
As the night continued, more and more students showed up to the event. The dance swelled from 10 people to more than 100 as the ballroom quickly filled. The fraternity ran the front desk, handing out Monsters and selling glow sticks in the ballroom.
“The dance is such a rush!” said sophomore Amy Francis. “It’s getting wild out there.”
Luke Waldrop, president of the WSU Fencing Club, said he will pledge to Pi Theta Xi next semester.
“The only thing I have to say is that this is THE dance to go to at Weber State,” said Waldrop while he was running around the ballroom, making sure everyone had a Monster Energy Drink.
In addition to the fraternity, sorority and students, a large police force oversaw the event. Sergeant Cliff Hamilton, with the WSU police, was in charge over seven other officers there.
“This is the third year of the dance. The numbers of officers we need has dropped each year,” Hamilton said. “It has been successful in the past, and hopefully, this year, it is a continuation of previous success. We’re only here to ensure everyone has a fun and safe time and to support the fraternity through this event.”
Ross Walker, who has been in the fraternity longer than any other brother, also helped with the event.
“This dance just started off as the fraternity wanted to do something fun, but has grown into a huge event,” Walker said. “We want to turn this into an annual event.”
Walker has helped for each of the three years of the dance.
“For the most part, the atmosphere has been great,” said Kipp as the dance was winding down. “We advertise this dance specifically as a techno dance to target a different audience. We want to provide something different from every other dance at Weber State and give an opportunity to each student to come and have a great time.”
Student Marla Martinez said she considers dances like this a way to relieve all the stress from the week of school.
“Dancing is a stress-reliever from any problem in your mind — exams, parents, friends, boyfriends,” Martinez said. “When you start dancing, you just forget everything and just pay attention to the music.”
