The silent disco was a hit with students, lit only with deep purple blacklights making dancers’ clothing and some faces fluorescently reflect the light. Joe Addison // AS Review
Photos and story by Joe Addison
On Sept. 27 according to AS Special Events Coordinator Kevin Harris an estimated 1500 students descended upon the Viking Union building after hours from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.. AS Productions hosts VU Late Night as an annual event. The idea of the event is to invite students into VU late at night to welcome them to the school year with activities, free food, performances and a raffle at the end of the night.
Behind the logistics and preparation is Harris, who started planning the event in July. He shared the thought process behind the purpose and theme of the event in an interview with the AS Review.
“The main goal, to me at least, is to provide an opportunity for new and returning students to have a good time and explore their campus in a different context,” Harris said.
According to Harris, VU Late Night is primarily a welcome to Western event that comes from the AS and students rather than faculty and departments.
This year’s theme was Futureverse, a name that Harris said just kind of stuck based off earlier “neon sci-fi future” ideas that inspired the selection of activities and contributors that made up VU Late Night. The theme allowed some of Western’s technology to be presented during the night. The Student Technology Center ran two 3D printers, demonstrating the printer’s capabilities to students.
“We wanted it to have it be a little bit more than just fun, and have people consider what kind of impact they can have on the future. A lot of [the event] appeals to freshmen. Why are you coming to western? How can you impact your own future by learning? How can you impact your community’s future?” Harris said.
The theme also connected the event with community partners like Heady VR, 1-UP Arcade, The Ruckus Room and Dark Tower Games. All of whom donated their time and loaned equipment to the event. Heady VR created a virtual reality room where students could try out virtual reality gear and games. The VU Gallery became a video gaming suite where students could play Mario Kart and Halo in multiplayer mode with their gameplay projected onto the white walls of the gallery.
The silent disco held on the fifth floor was one of the most popular activities, as for most attendees it was a new experience. Wireless headphones provided music to each person on the dance floor, and the headphones would light up depending on which station the user set the headphones to. Ice Cream Cult, Hünter, DJ Kai of Whatcom sounds and the ASP throwback Spotify playlist provided the music though the night. The silent disco was lit with blacklights and dancers searched for groups of people with the same color headphones to join.
On the fourth floor, The Ruckus Room provided arcade pinball machines and Dark Tower Games laid out dozens of board games for students to play. This room was unexpectedly popular, according to Harris.
Local partners were a primary focus for Harris who worked with all local businesses and all performances on the Multipurpose Room stage were Western clubs. The clubs that performed were Dead Parrots Society,
SINI-HHA, Bellingham Order of the Saber and Acapella Club. Harris specifically reached out to clubs that did not get to perform during info fair earlier that week due to the rain.
Throughout the night rooms were buzzing with activity, most were at or above capacity with waiting lines. When asked if he would like to add more activities to Late Night, to reduce wait times Harris said. He would love to add more activities in the future however they had used all the space available to them in the building.
In the future, Harris said he would think about how he might utilize the Old Main Lawn, or the Performing Arts Center to better host these large events. ASP Special Events will be putting on two more large scale late-night-style events this academic year, one in January opening up the Rec Center late at night and a second Late Night at the beginning of spring quarter. These are in addition to a quarterly comedy series and the possibility of bringing back a series of debate events.
Students volunteer to participate in the Dead Parrots Society improvisation performance hosted on the stage of the MPR.
Face-painting by Beautiful Facepaint included some colors which would fluorescently reflect the blacklights of the silent disco.
Students gather around a table to make buttons out of comic books and magazines in the VU fifth floor lobby.
Staff from the Student Technology Center demo a 3D printer, letting students know about the free 3D quota printing available to students each quarter.
Students watch old movies in VU 552 away from the crowds and noise from the other activities.
Western’s SINI-HHA dance group performs in the VU MPR.
The selection of board games available to borrow in the board and arcade games room.
The Bellingham Order of the Saber members show an interested student one of their lightsabers.
The pizza arrived later in the night, students line up to receive a free slice.
Students line up next to the voter registration table for the free tacos served in the sixth floor lobby.
The VU Gallery became a video gaming suite with Mario Kart projected on one wall and Halo on the opposite.
The Dead Parrots Society lead an improvisation workshop for students after their performance on the MPR stage.