Until maybe 3-4 years ago, UWMBDA used to have themes for some of our dances.  About half of the dances were "Series" dances where a lesson was taught during the dance, and the other dances were called "Theme Dances" where the council would brainstorm some catchy themes to call each dance.  Then if some members were feeling creative, they would wear something that fit the theme.  Dressing up certainly wasn't required, but it did make it fun just to see a few dancers wearing something in the theme.  In addition to the big Halloween Costume Ball and the Valentine Formal we still have each year, some of the past (occasionally silly) themes were:

Flower Power
Night at the Coliseum
Pajama Party
Some Enchanted Evening (winter formal)
Winter Warmth (bring a food panty donation)
Sports Night
80's Disco-tech Night
Leather and Lace
Laundry Day
Night In White (formal)
Tropical Paradise (always in the winter months)
Revenge of the Nerds
Saturday Night Fever
Sunburned Summer (wear red)
Pirates of the Caribbean
Las Flores Primaveras
Sock Hop
Go West!
In the Garden (semi-formal)
Latin Night
A Night in Vienna (formal)
Nerdy or Sexy?
Jump, Jive, and Wail
Masquerade Formal
Superheros
Funky Fashion
Flashbacks
Groovin' In the Graveyard (halloween)
Crystal & Candlelight
April Fools

So how 'bout we start naming some of the dances with themes again?  Schedules are already printed for the Fall, so this is something more for the Spring semester.  But there's no reason we couldn't themetize a couple of the Fall dances (other than the Halloween dance) with some easy themes.

So, what do you think?  For anyone who likes the idea (not just council members), brainstorm some more theme titles/ideas and post them here.

I like this idea. Some theme ideas:

Heaven and Hell
James Bond
Blast From the Past
Ninjas!
Around the World
Dashing Daredevils and Femme Fatales
Mad Science

I miss theme nights. They were a lot of fun!

I dig Ninjas. I would totally dance as a Ninja.
Other options:
How about a Tarentino night?
Lord of the Rings?
Oh, I know- Japanese Anime!!!!
I want to dance with Akira, but before he becomes a giant killer mutant ( he'd be too tall for me then, you see).

I am totally for the formal "black and white night" but I also like Nicole's idea of Japanese Anime.
How about Renaissance? Now that I have a sabre, well...

Btw, who is Akira? Which anime is he from?

A black and white ball would be quite lovely.

Akira is from Akira, a Japanese sci-fi anime from 1988 based on a 2000+ page manga.  It was famous for being one of the first anime films to adopt western techniques to achieve a high visual production quality (i.e. animating full faces during dialogue rather tahn just mouths), it's gritty sci-fi noir feel, and depiction of children as an emblem of a world on the verge of change.

"Aaaaah-Keeee-Laaaah!"

You can rent Akira at 4 Star. You could also borrow it from one of many in the UWMBDA community that own a copy ( I am one of them).

Maybe leave the sabre at home, though. I get the feeling it would be a problem with Union management if suddenly all these Ballroom dancers showed up armed to the teeth with sabres and daggers. Don't get me wrong, I live to see that. I'm just sayin'...

Regardless, it might be best to wait until we get the Grand Hall. It has high ceilings.

I do like theme ideas, I do!
I think the masquerade sounds really cool!
Traditions from Around the World?
Enchanted Evening, too... I'm not entirely sure what it means, but if it's more ambience-enchanted than magical enchanted, maybe some sort of Magical, Mythical sort of thing? With pixies, fairies, wizards, beasts...
Anachronism Night? (Like that dude in Gladiator who was a soldier, but had a brand new, high-tech watch on his wrist.)