Homecoming: you have the uncomfortable dress or suit, the friends, the cheap dinners and the press-on nails. Many enjoy this week filled with chaos, but many could live without it.

Snowcoming: you have the uncomfortable dress or suit, the friends, the cheap dinners…. So I guess the same things, just add slight hypothermia.

Young Adult Movies and Teen Films would describe both dances as a very exciting, grand party filled with experiences and excitement. In reality, it’s just a bunch of kids in a gym with trash dance moves. It might seem like I’m hating, but Troy High wouldn’t be the same without our dances and I’ll probably end up attending all of them anyway, mostly because my mom already doesn’t think I have a social life. I’m here to compare and contrast the dances that build the most craze.

Snowco Vs. Hoco… “ding ding ding”…it sounded better in my head.

Snowco, also called Winter Formal or simply Formal, is a dance held by high schools all across the United States. It takes place between Homecoming and Prom, usually between December and March. For many at Troy High, Snowco can be a second chance to go to a big dance. During freshman year I only went to Snowco and after finally going to Hoco this year, I can say with full confidence the two dances are very much the same.

I took it to the Troy High kids themselves to see which dance they personally liked more and which one needs a bit more publicity. Sophomore Shashank Pagadala believes there are distinct differences in the dance

“Hoco was definitely better, and it gets more hype,” Pagadala said. “It’s because there are so many activities that are tied in with Hoco, like the football games and the marching band performances.”

As Pagadala expresses, Hoco definitely gets the pick of the draw when it comes to its popularity. It’s fortunately during the football season, and even has its own parade and game dedicated to it; it is also situated as the first dance of the year, so it is more well-known by students and staff.

Sophomore Arushi Mathri, argues the difference in hype between the two dances.

“I haven’t been to either but from the outside looking in, it looks as though Hoco is way more popular, and Snowco just is more casual and chill,” Mathri said.

So it really does come down to Hoco’s popularity that brings in more students to the event. I feel that if both dances had a good sport season or even a parade for Snowco, more people would be motivated to go to the latter dance.

In my opinion, it can be easy to say that the dances are very similar and that one might not be needed, but on the other hand, I feel that the difference of the hype for Snowco and Hoco makes the dances different as Hoco is more anticipated.

However, I honestly don’t think the “dance culture” of our school is really about the dances or the “hype” correlated to each. Instead, dances help us escape our school life and have fun playing dress up and awkwardly shuffling into the gym, because that’s what high school is about: making a fool out of yourself with the people you care for the most, no matter what dance you go to.