On Jan. 11 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in Names Gym, the ASB Campus Life Committee hosted the “New Year’s in New York” Tolo dance. Tolo, in which girls customarily ask boys to the dance, returned to Bellarmine campus after its initial revival in 2023 at Temple Theater. But, this year’s Tolo was subject to mixed feedback due to several differences from other dances—its organization under a new ASB structure, restrictions on guest tickets, and timing on the first weekend after Winter Break. Members of the Campus Life Committee reflected on Tolo’s execution, as well as what it might say about the culture surrounding dances at Bellarmine.
Sharing the planning process behind Tolo, junior Adeline Kelly said the “whole reason we decided to do a Tolo is because we heard [students] wanted another dance specifically for the underclassmen, but the upperclassmen wanted another dance.” The final decision was up to administration, who, Kelly said, “liked this idea because they liked the idea of keeping the community strong in a time where it’s not so full of activities.”
Being on Tolo’s dance-planning committee, which merged with the Campus Life Committee this year, also came with many logistical challenges given the limited timing of the dance. According to Kelly, “this year, most of our budget was going towards the volunteers who worked with us and the DJ. So, we had very limited amounts of money to spend on decorations and promotion…because this is such a small dance, we don’t really get those opportunities.”
To address concerns about the dance’s proximity to finals week, Kelly shared, “maybe in February [next year], we’ll do a Valentine’s Dance instead of Tolo, that way, people can almost use it as a way to celebrate being done with finals and celebrate second semester.”
Senior Kayden England also shared her experience with organizing Tolo. “For Tolo specifically, it was hard because we weren’t allowed to have outside people, which is a huge factor for getting people involved and bringing in non-Bellarmine students, like for Prom or Hoco…a lot of our planning process was over break and very few were involved.”
Despite this, Tolo yielded many positive reviews. “A lot of people really like the theme that we did. They thought that it was like a fun way to keep everyone engaged,” Kelly said. England shared, “The underclassmen who went to it seemed to have enjoyed it. They didn’t care about having dates, and they just wanted to have fun with their friends.”
Noticing the changing attitude toward Tolo, and dances at Bellarmine in general, ASB Moderator Hailey Maher noted, “We sold about 150 tickets and then about 50 kids or so showed up. Those numbers were about what I was expecting. That’s to be expected when you’re bringing back something that hasn’t been done in the past years—when you lose a tradition, you have to build it back. The surprise for me at this dance wasn’t at all the number of kids there. It was simply that the kids there didn’t dance.”
Maher added, “it feels like a changing culture to me. I think even at Homecoming, I noticed there’s a lot of standing in groups, or leaving the dance to go to the water station and stand out by the water station and come back and stand in the gym, and that feels really different.”
Looking back on the feedback from Tolo and the evolving attitudes toward dances, Campus Life members remained optimistic about future events. “Moving forward, we just want as much feedback as possible,” England said.
Kelly added, “Dances are about more than just attendance—they’re about creating spaces for students to connect and have fun, and we’ll keep working toward that.”
