No Twerking Allowed! Annapolis High School Requires Students To Sign Dance Contract

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Annapolis High School is cracking down on twerking, grinding and other provocative dance moves at school dances.

This year it's requiring students who plan to attend to sign, and have their parents sign, a "dance contract."

Monique Griego reports the contract is very clear. Students who don't get it signed, won't be allowed in.  And if you break it, you'll be kicked out of the dance.

A quick search of YouTube and it's pretty easy to find thousands of dance videos of teens twerking at school.

But one place you won't see those kind of moves is at Annapolis High School's homecoming dance this weekend.

School leaders are requiring students and their parents to sign a "dance contract" that bans sexually explicit behavior.

"There is like some grinding, but that's every school in the county," said Maddy Lupinek, student.

"There is a lot of stuff.  People get away with a lot of things," said Chris Saltzman, student.

The contract makes things very clear: no grinding, intimate touching or dancing with your buttocks touching or in the air.

If you don't get it signed, you can't attend.  And if you break it, you'll be removed from the dance.

"Dances have become more provocative in recent years, and we've had some issues at schools frankly," said Bob Mosier, Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

"I think it's fair, because some of the kids do need to tone it down," said Nicole Harbor, parent.

The dance contract itself is nothing new, but having parents sign it is, and students say the contract is a lot more specific this year.

Nine out of 12 high schools in Anne Arundel County have some form of dance contracts, but not all require signatures.  The specific guidelines are left up to individual principals.

Students believe the increased enforcement is due to increased attention on certain moves, like twerking.

"I know my parents would never know what that was, but now they know what twerking is," said Bailey Greene, student.

But even parents who signed the contract doubted its effectiveness.

"The schools have to do something, but whether it will be 100 percent successful...I doubt it," said Bill Wink, parent.

In addition to the ban on certain types of dancing, the contract also requires students to dress appropriately.  They cannot show excessive amounts of skin.

WJZ did call several other districts.  None of those had a district-wide policy regarding school dances. The decision is left up to principals.

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