Matric dance spectacle takes centre stage

By Giyani Baloi

Matric dance is a social event that is arranged by students, with the help of teachers and parents to celebrate the matriculants’ final year in high school all over South Africa. It is also an event to get the matriculants who are now young adults to have fun and enjoy a bit of outing and glamour.

This past Friday, I attended one at Killarney Golf course in Johannesburg where National School of Arts students had hosted theirs. It was such a spectacle, seeing the students wearing designer clothes, some driving or accompanied by very big expensive cars. They were all sorts of cars, like Porsche, Ferrari, Bentley, and many other expensive vintage cars.

The teachers, families, and students could wait for a car carrying the students who were in pairs like couples to arrive. They could be cheered as the big engines were revved as the students got out of the cars in their designer clothes with flowers. It was like a wedding day for students.

Matric dance events all over the country are becoming a big thing for students and proving to be costly to parents. Some students obsess with Matric dance events more than passing their Matric final exam.

Unfortunately, it also happens at a very critical stage of the student’s final Matric exams, I think. You can imagine a parent pushed to the limit to make a Matric dance for a student a success, and only for that student to fail the final Matric exam five months later. But, whether Matric dance is a good thing or not for students, it is such a thrill and a spectacle to watch.