The Dance Before The Game

If you're looking for The Place to go before The Game, the undergraduate 350th Committee just may have The Event for you.

The committee that planned the gala 350th ball in October is organizing an optional black-tie dance in Memorial Hall on November 21, Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III said yesterday.

Lester Lanin and his Society Orchestra, one of the three groups which played at the 350th ball, will make a repeat appearance at the November dance, said the dean, who is one of the committee's co-chairmen.

"We'd like to keep the spirit going," Epps said. "We'd like to continue building on what we did for the 350th."

The $15 tickets to the ball will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis at Holyoke Center beginning next Wednesday. Epps said that about 1000 tickets will be available for interested students, faculty and alumni.

In addition, Epps said, the committee will encourage Yale students to attend the event. The dean said that the dance may be advertised in The Yale Daily News, the campus newspaper.

The committee's October fete met with fargreater response than planners estimated. Capacityfor the earlier dance, which culminated a week of350th celebrations, had to be expanded from 3500students to 4500 after students complained thatthey could not obtain tickets.

But Epps said that the committee has no plansto expand the number of available tickets for theupcoming dance should demand exceed supply. Hesaid that did not think space restrictions inMemorial Hall posed a problem because there willbe many other events that night to attractstudents.

Epps said that he decided to have a dance YaleWeekend because a lot of alumni who return for TheGame often have nothing to do. He said he thoughtthe event would be a good way to support thefootball team and that he hoped "a mix of faculty,students and alumni" would attend.

In addition, he said, the success of theOctober ball prompted the committee to have onemore go at it. "People had a good time at the350th ball and we thought we would do it one moretime," Epps said.

The undergraduate 350th committee is alsoconsidering another formal all-College dance inMay, Epps said