Party Reviews: What was Up and What Went Down at Canfield?

The first party of a new term always has the potential to set the mood for all the parties that follow. Either every Friday and Saturday will turn up, or we’ll all go down to see if the night is tolerable. Canfield took this responsibility literally with its “Up vs. Down” party this past Friday.

What exactly the theme meant was anybody’s guess. Canfield’s higher ups as well as the foot soldiers who panhandled in front of the dining hall stayed ambivalent about its meaning. The posters hung around Commons evoked the abstract idea of “up vs down”: the elevator you hope doesn’t get stuck; the crypto stock that your brother at UMass Amherst keeps saying will go “to the moon”; the sleek Deloitte-approved advertising for corporate voids. 

The theme seemed to rely on the creativity and imagination of students, something that outside of interpretive Martha Hill dances  and free from poetry students can struggle with. Should we dress up or dress down? Should we show up on uppers or downers? Should we just show up in jeans and a going out top?

Most Bennington students, regardless of theme, try to get as close as possible to breaking Vermont indecent exposure laws, but Canfield’s theme called for something more tasteful. The uniform of “up vs. down” was either Severance chic or hungover in D-hall. A tie along with those sweatpants at the bottom of your laundry bag were musts! Both options are only warm enough to not freeze on the way to Canfield.

Even with the weather, Canfield was able to rally a sizable dance floor on first street after midnight. No set faltered in energy, and even used an eclectic mix of on-theme music which houses have been known to forget. Moving up or down in music is almost as popular as shaking or thrusting, so finding songs that fit was something Canfield made look easy.

Saturday had no official party, seemingly to ease students into the brutal two-party-a week schedule along with the 12 or so credits they take in between. Canfield has usually been able to pull off some great parties—a party house for all, the coda of the beginning and the end of the term—and they certainly succeeded in promising that Friday and Saturday will only be regretful for personal decisions rather than the party itself. Hopefully it can only go up from here.