As Kevin Bacon celebrated the 1984 iconic “Footloose” film’s 40th anniversary at Utah’s Payson High School on Saturday, a local small town school followed in the movie’s footsteps by deciding to embrace change of its own.

At Grace High School, like in many small town communities in East Idaho, a floorshow had become a tried and true prom tradition where junior class students would perform a ballroom-like dance for the community.

Yet this tradition has caused some controversy over the years. The community looks forward to watching the floorshow and getting to see all the kids dressed in formal attire.

However, many Grace High School students have felt the prom was no longer theirs. The floorshow had become obligatory and many students didn’t want to attend.

In recent years the size of the audience at the dance had declined as well.

So this year’s Grace junior class decided to bravely make some changes and still stand with tradition in planning the school’s junior prom. It’s called the junior prom because it’s organized by the junior class but all Grace High School students are welcome to attend.

Though no one had to stand in front of a town council like Kevin Bacon did in his “Footloose” role as Ren McCormack, defending students’ right to music, members of the Grace junior class did have to make their wishes heard to school advisors and the principal.

With a lot of leg work and planning, this year’s junior prom is believed to be the first prom to take place outside of Grace High School in school history.

Junior class officers went to work finding a new location. Some suggested the school lunchroom or other venues. But the students finally worked out the details to rent the beautiful Enders Hotel in Soda Springs.

But this wasn’t a total break with the past. The junior students still held the floorshow Saturday evening at Grace High School. But afterward the new junior prom began at the Enders Hotel.

Makayla Clark, Social Dance Club owner, has been involved with teaching the floorshow for years. With perked interest to see how many years ago floorshow began at Grace High School, Clark researched for hours trying to track down anything she could in yearbooks but found very little information.

By talking with Grace High School alumni, however, she came to the conclusion it has been at least a 66-year tradition.

Clark said, “The problem though with tradition is when times change, people change. The prom wasn’t for the kids anymore. The kids still are OK with doing floorshow but they wanted to take back the dance as their own. As we grow we need to be OK with adapting tradition and listening to what the kids want. It’s so fun to see the kids excited about prom again. I have seen more boys asking dates and girls are just so excited to go. Prom is considered a rite of passage as a teenager and it was sad to see how little excitement there was for it. ”

This year’s Grace junior class has a foreign exchange student from Spain attending prom. Olivia Lopez said there is no such thing as prom in her home country. Lopez says she’s been looking forward to prom since the day she came to the U.S.

“This is definitely a big part of the American experience everyone talks of,” Lopez said. “I am so excited I get to see what it’s like and especially since it’s my junior prom and I get to be a part of floorshow. I had a fun group of kids to go with and bought my dream prom dress with my host mom in Idaho Falls. It’s the dress I always pictured myself in when I would watch American high school movies.”

The turnout and vibe of Saturday night’s junior prom were a huge success in comparison to past years. Class advisor Suzanne Hill said kids stayed dancing for hours.

The Enders Hotel showed them a whole new way of celebrating prom with food, socializing space and an incredible dance floor.

Grace senior Jacie Christensen has been to a number of proms in the past and said, “Prom this year was the best. I have never stayed more than 45 minutes, but last night I was there the whole night because it was fun. I was sad when the evening came to an end. Everyone there was dancing and singing and that’s never happened. Prom this year united our school. We always feel some kind of division but last night I felt like everyone was mingling together on the dance floor. Enders was the perfect venue for prom. I am so grateful my last prom was so memorable.”

Progress and adaption with tradition often start small but Grace High School’s junior class started with a voice of change and made it happen. Parents and community appreciated the tradition of the floorshow on Saturday night but Grace’s students still got to take back ownership of their prom.

Grace High did just as “Footloose” famously stated, “This is our time to dance.”