When Cliff Sheckles decided to host a dance, he didn't call everyone he knew and invite them. He didn't put up posters or hand out fliers. He just logged on to Facebook.
The then-sophomore at the Lakeside School ended up playing host to 1,200 people at his April event in the South Lake Union Naval Armory building, his seven-person security staff holding up a line of boys as if at a nightclub -- a far cry from teenage sock hops of yesteryear.
Large-scale private dances, like the one he coordinated, have been easier to promote since Facebook opened its doors to high school students several years ago. And a recent decision by Seattle Public Schools to limit high schools to three dances a year -- down from six or seven at some schools -- seems to have added fuel to the fire.
In short, there are thousands of high school students looking for an alternative way to get their dancing in, and Facebook, airplane hangars and ambitious underage entrepreneurs are all playing a part in filling the void.
And students are responding in droves to the dances -- usually paying between $5 and $15 at the door.
"We had 1,000 kids trying to get in at once," Sheckles said, recalling his April event, which had a GI Joe theme.
"It was a bad situation."
Teenagers in camouflage-patterned clothes filled the dance floor to the rhythms of hip-hop. As the night wore on, people snuck in through unguarded places such as the window to the girls bathroom.
Private dance parties have come under a lot of public scrutiny lately. A 17-year-old was shot and killed at a small January party at a Belltown photo studio. No arrests have been made.
And two private off-campus theme parties thrown by Seattle University students have drawn the attention of the university's administration in the past few months. One of the parties -- themed as a "Douchebag Party" -- never made it off the ground, discouraged by a university administrator who found out about the party on Facebook.
A spokesman from the Seattle Police Department declined to comment on the dances, saying police would have to receive a 911 call about illegal activity for it to be on their radar, or for additional officers to be posted in a certain area on the night of a dance.
And so far, no large-scale incidents have arisen.
"People are allowed to assemble in large groups -- it's in the First Amendment," Officer Jeff Kappel said. "There's no law against a bunch of kids having a private party."
And Seattle Public Schools principals were not authorized by the district to comment.
The new school district policy restricts schools to three dances with the option to petition for a fourth. The dances must be held off campus, and security is effectively doubled.
Implemented at a principals meeting in January, the dance decision applied to all schools in the district. School district spokeswoman Patti Spencer cited three main factors: a decline in attendance at dances, the climbing cost of putting on a school dance, and the concern there shouldn't be noticeable disparity in the quality of dances from school to school.
Easy advertising on Facebook and other networking groups was already giving rise to the number of large-scale parties being thrown as school dance alternatives.
Spencer said it isn't appropriate for school district officials to talk about after-school parties coordinated by individual students.
"We do our best ... to provide an appropriate educational environment for students when they're on campus," Spencer said. "Any recreational activity that a student participates in is the responsibility of that student and their parent."
Sheckles, who says he grossed more than $13,000 in cover charges at his April dance, isn't the only Seattle-area youth coordinating events. A number of high school and college-age students are making thousands off the parties.
Sheckles said he didn't need a special permit from the Fire Department for the event -- those are generally required if flammable materials are present at a large gathering.
But one of the toughest parts of planning the dance was finding a company that would insure a hip-hop dance, he said. The armory building requires event planners to have a $1 million policy through a private insurer, which costs thousands upfront.
But for Sheckles, the rest of the planning was pretty easy. He borrowed some money from a "rich friend" for the deposit on the South Lake building, got his aunt to sign for the liability and waited.
News of the dance spread across Facebook like an Internet virus, and the guest list soared. Friends invited friends who invited more friends, and the event quickly jumped from one high school network to another.
"We hyped it up -- they came because of good promoting," Sheckles said.
Facebook's "event" feature, like its "group" feature, creates a page that is linked to the user's page. Users can plan to attend an event by accepting an invitation or simply going to the page and clicking on "attending." Having joined, they can invite as many of their friends as they want.
Already, a couple of more dances are being advertised on Facebook for the late summer and beginning of the school year. Besides Sheckles, a few other event planners have been competing for the teen dance market -- but it's a friendly competition, said Ari Cohen, who recently coordinated a dance at Magnuson Air Hangar 30.
Cohen said he has received a number of messages on Facebook with comments such as, "Thank God for you guys."