Photo 1 (above): Residents, as well as students that came to volunteer at the event, enjoyed dancing to a wide variety of music.

Last Friday, Dustin and I headed to Aversboro Assisted Living Center in Garner to disc jockey a prom for the center’s residents. The event was organized because many residents did not have the opportunity to attend a prom in high school. Theresa Gaddy, the center’s recreation director, said:

They never got to go to the prom because they were busy working in the fields… they were raised on farms and had to do farm work. (source)

12 or so students from Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh volunteered as beauticians and helped residents get ready for the event. Then, they accompanied the residents as escorts to the dance, where they talked, ate, and danced with the residents.

This was actually the second senior citizen prom that we DJed. Two weeks earlier, Dustin DJed a similar dance for seniors that Cardinal Gibbons put on at a local community center. That event was smaller, about half or two-thirds the size of this event. We had expected this event to be bigger, but we still had over 100 residents!

You can read more about this event and watch the video newscast on NBC17’s website.

Music

Many of the music selections we had picked out from the other senior event, but still this was a different crowd with a different dynamic and they wanted to hear different music. Dustin had pulled together a lot of old music, like Barry Manilow, but as soon as we started playing that someone came over and told us not to play “dead music” because it was depressing the residents. Dustin laughed, and said “Barry Manilow isn’t dead” (he came out with 8 or so albums in the last decade). Nevertheless, we switched up the music.

Not long after we started getting some requests. People wanted to hear:

• Twist (Chubby Checker)
• Stroll
• general 50s and 60s hits, love songs
• Beatles
• Beach music

I think 50s and 60s ended up being the optimal timeframe for music at this event. Love songs from this era were very popular, as were our standard line dances/ icebreakers (Macarena, YMCA, Cha cha slide). We played some soft rock at the beginning as well, but after about 45 minutes or so we mastered the crowd and were able to play the right kind of music. The goal of each song that we selected was to get people up out of their seats and onto the dance floor enjoying themselves.

We were able to get a lot of residents up, dancing, and having a great time. We did play Crank Dat by Soulja Boy, and I know the students enjoyed that (and at least some of the residents). There was one kid, this boy who had to have been about 7 years old, and as soon as we put on Soulja Boy he was out on the dance floor breaking it down. For the rest of the dance, this boy was on the floor, busting his moves, and making everyone laugh.

Photo 2 (above): Nick and Dustin take a break to listen to the music during the dance.