Endicott Observer | Volume XIII, Issue Twelve | Thursday, May 5th, 2011

GrooveBoston College Tour Lights Up Spring Weekend

Balley Marquis, Staff Writer

On Saturday, April 30th, GrooveBoston came to Endicott to “turn a plain-jane gym into a rave,” as George Kuntz, assistant director of student activities, explained.  Hundreds of Endicott students and their guests flooded into the Field House decked out in white or neon t-shirts and glow sticks to lose themselves in streams of lasers, neon lights and loud beats.

Endicott has been working with GrooveBoston since the beginning of the semester to make this a truly memorable dance.  the team has made multiple visits to Endicott to plan out how to make the Post Center club material, working with student activities director Will Schimpf and assistant directors, George Kuntz and Stephanie Pierce, to make sure the event exceeded expectations.  Pierce has the idea of bringing GrooveBoston to Endicott after working with them at her previous job at Tufts University, a college that works with them three times a year to organize their annual dances.

Student activites directors did not want to follow up the Sam Adams winter concert with another concert in the spring, so GrooveBoston seemed like a perfect alternative to conclude the semester.

Pierce thought this would be a great event to bring to Endicott.

“Endicott students really like dances.  So why not bring them a big mobile club?” said Pierce.

Pierce and Kuntz presented the idea to the Campus Activities Board (CAB) to get the students’ perspective.  Members of CAB immediately jumped on board with the idea.

Kuntz said, “This is an event we’re really excited about.  If we can get students behind it then it’s going to be a success.”

Clearly students got behind the event because just after two weeks of being on sale, over 700 tickets were already sold at $15 a pop.  Student activities decided to sell the first 839 tickets at a discount based on the amount of people who said they would attend the event on its Facebook page.

Impressed by this number, Pierce said GrooveBoston upgraded Endicott’s club package to include laser lights.  A select number of VIP tickets were also being sold to students for $30, who had privileges to the upper track, where they could relax on couches, drink mocktails, socialize with the D.J. and watch the sea of glowsticks and dancers from above.

Pierce explained that the GrooveBoston team has a certain scientific method to the events they organize, and they do not just turn on the music and lights and leave.  Pierce said, “They gear whatever they do toward the crowd,” responding to how the crowd reacts to certain music and light shows.

The music builds as the night goes on, increasing the beats per minute within the song until the peak dancing hour of the night.  Pierce said that members of the GrooveBoston team described that at this moment as, “You really can’t dance for more than an hour,” because the beats are so intense.

Junior communication major, Rebecca Kensil attended the event and was impressed by GrooveBoston’s intensity.  Kensil said, “The atmosphere at GrooveBoston was really cool.  I loved the lights and it was a change of pace from the other dances here.”

Some students were more underwhelmed with the event.

Visiting students who went to GrooveBoston were impressed by the attendance of the event.

Ethan Webb, a sophomore at Wentworth Institute of Technology said, “I’m on the Campus Activities Board at my school.  We don’t get that kind of attendance at my school events.  We definitely will have to look into GrooveBoston for my school.”

Pierce explained that if the event went well they would like to bring GrooveBoston back in the upcoming years.

“Our goal is if this goes really well, we’d like to double our budget next year,” Pierce said.

Hopefully, Pierce said, GrooveBoston will become an annual Endicott tradition.  A total of 1,500 tickets ended up being sold for the event.

Before the night of the event Kuntz predicted a good night for all involved.

Kuntz said “It’s going to be epic.”

After a night on the dance floor, who could disagree?

I know, I know.  You’ve barely recovered from getting your face ]]> It’s not just a Jersey Shore hairdo anymore.

I know, I know.  You’ve barely recovered from getting your face rocked off last spring, but believe it or not, the fall tour kickoff is nearly upon us.  So put your face back on, head back to the dorm, and gear up for GrooveBoston’s biggest tour yet.

>> Check out the current tour stops here. <<

We’re going to hit one school after another, taking back the term “blowout” along the way.  As always, we’ve got new music, new DJs, and new gadgets to make sure that each stop is the most intense, badass, massive dance party in town.

Enjoy the last few weeks of summer, because this is going to be CRAZY.

To make sure the tour hits your campus, contact events@grooveboston.com.