By: Clare Roth

NextNOW Fest’s Silent Disc-Glo returned this year with one of the biggest crowds in the event’s nine-year history. 

The Clarice Performing Arts Center and Student Entertainment Events (SEE) once again partnered to host their annual Silent Disc-Glo event. About 1,200 people attend the disco each year according to the Co-Director of Artistic Programming for The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Megan Pagado Wells. 

“As the Silent Disc-Glo has been an extremely popular event, we’ve been fortunate to see a strong turnout year after year. This year, the line reached Riggs Alumni Center, around the corner from The Clarice,” Pagado Wells said. 

The Silent Disc-Glo is a wireless headphone dance party where attendees can switch between three live DJs, according to The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s website. This year the event was held inside the Grand Pavillion of The Clarice instead of its usual location outside in The Clarice’s Courtyard. 

“We’ve held the Silent Disc-Glo indoors and outdoors over the years. This year, we brought the event back indoors so we were able to provide a more immersive visual experience,” Pagado Wells said. 

The lighting and projections that surrounded the dance floor were a big part of this visual experience. Two alumni of the Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies school, Timothy Kelly and Jim Jenets, adjusted the visuals and lighting live, bringing more interaction and immersiveness to the dance party. 

Students waited hours to get into one of NextNOW Fest’s biggest events with a line wrapped around the building. The Clarice’s website clearly stated that “no entry will be permitted after 11:30 p.m.,” indicating event staff expected the large crowd.

Instead of waiting in the long line, some students, like sophomore neurobiology and physiology major Abigail Wise, skipped it by sneaking into the disco. 

“I was with my friend and she knew someone pretty well who was working the event. We snuck in the doors to the music entrance and he just showed his badge to security and we got to go in. But assuming we waited the whole time I’m not sure we would have gotten in,” Wise said. 

Others, like veteran Disc-Glower sophomore education and Spanish double major, Arleen Galarza, got to the venue early to avoid the big crowd. 

“There wasn’t really a line when I got there but…I came at 8:30 to avoid it,” Galarza said. 

Sophomore mechanical engineering major Matthew Salvado and his friends waited in line for about an hour before leaving the line entirely. 

“I got there at like 10:30 to 11:00 and then waited until 11:30. When it came around 11: 30 we just saw the line, it looked like it barely moved. So we just gave up and left. We were like, we’re probably not going to get in,” Salvado said. 

Despite the wait time, people waiting in line tried to keep busy and have fun. According to Salvado, students chatted with each other and played games to pass the time. One of Salvado’s friends brought a bubble wand and made a game out of trying to see how long a bubble would last in the air. 

Pagado Wells says that the Silent Disc-Glo is a great way for students to rein in the new semester by spending time with friends and connecting with one another. 

“I for sure see myself going again. I had so much last year and this year it was something I was looking forward to. It did not disappoint,” Galarza said. 

Featured Image: Side View of The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Photo by: Miller Rogers-Tetrick