Canandaigua Academy bans suggestive dancing

As Academy students get back into the swing of school, beginning with a high school dance tonight and the big football game against Victor at Evans Field tomorrow, some are lamenting a new school policy that limits how they are allowed to dance.

High school students will now be monitored for appropriate behavior at Canandaigua Academy school dances. Students and parents were notified of the change in a letter from Principal Richard Faccio which states that a strict, no-tolerance policy will be enforced this year regarding “back-to-front” dancing.

“Over the last few years, student dancing has become more risqué and very sexually suggestive,” the letter reads.

Beginning with tonight’s school event, dancing will be limited to face-to-face behavior. Any student caught dancing in a back-to-front fashion will result in the student being immediately removed from the dance with a call home to their parents to have the student picked up. Offenders will also be stripped of the privilege to attend dances for the remainder of the school year.

Students who are witnessed dancing in a risqué, suggestive or degrading manner will also be removed, according to the letter.

The school says the regulations are in place because previous attempts to curb suggestive dancing have not been successful.

“For several years now, we have tried to find this harmony with their dancing, but the resistance has been so noteworthy that an acceptable compromise has not been able to be reached,” the letter, dated Aug. 6, reads.

Given the popularity of “back-to-front” dancing, commonly known as “grinding,” some students are not happy with the new policy.

Alex Smith,16, is a junior at Canandaigua Academy this year. She says she’s attended most school dances, and the behavior she witnesses isn’t all that bad.

“The school’s making the dancing out to be a lot worse than it really is,” she said.

Though some students might get out of control, Alex said, on the whole, overall, the dancing is not meant to be sexual — it’s just meant to be fun, she said.

“I feel like they really don’t understand that times have changed,” she said. “Things are different than when they were in school.”

The letter says that suggestive types of dancing should be reserved for clubs or private parties. But for the majority of students who are under 18, there aren’t many options — they can’t typically get into dance clubs.

“The only place we can really dance is at a school dance,” Smith said. “And now they’re taking that away from everyone.”  

Smith says since students pay to attend, they should have the right to dance however they want. If the school is intent on kicking out offenders, fewer students will bother dancing or even attending at all.

Superintendent Don Raw said the rule is not in place to stop students from having a good time. It’s there to show them that there are consequences for inappropriate behavior.

“We want them to enjoy themselves, but at the same time there’s an appropriateness for their actions that we also feel is important for them to understand,” he said.

The new rule is there to serve a warning for students who might be inclined to show off some “R” rated moves. Raw says there’s only a portion of students who act in an inappropriate way at dances, but still the rule will be enforced to remind kids that there are expectations for behavior.

“We’re talking about a very small percentage of kids that actually conduct themselves in any kind of extreme,” he said. “It’s important that we’re fair to them by giving them notice ahead of time.”