LAYTON – Students from Layton High School attending the girls-choice Sweethearts Dance got an unexpected shock when the music was cut off mid-song and the party cut short when a mosh pit got out of control despite numerous warnings to be safe.

The dance was Saturday night at the Salt Lake City Library.

According to school officials, the DJ stopped the music numerous times and warned the students they needed to settle down and be safe. But as the behavior continued, school administration attending the dance pulled the plug.

Principal Ryck Astle said in the 28 years he has been attending Layton High School dances this is the first time the school has ended the event so suddenly, reportedly at 9:25 p.m. The dance began at 7 p.m. and was scheduled to conclude at 10 p.m.

According to Astle, students were jumping and bumping into one another, so it came down to safety.

“The bottom line is that it became unsafe. It was just dangerous and innocent kids were getting hurt. They’d been asked many times to stop, but we can’t continue a dance when safety becomes an issue,” Astle said.

However, several students claimed they were confused while being ushered out after the music stopped. They claimed the dance wasn’t any worse than previous dances and wondered why the individuals causing the problems weren’t just escorted out.

Junior Sydney Johnson has attended several Layton High School dances and admits the dance floor was a bit tight. “Everyone was pushing each other trying to fit in and there were five kids in a circle that shoved off each other, knocking over a bunch of people; but it wasn’t unusual. It is like that at every dance and it was just fun with the energy and having fun together,” Johnson said.

Sophomore Spencer Knavel said they weren’t dancing near the mosh pit because it was too crowded. He and his date were confused when they were ushered out so early, he said.

“I could tell they were playing the music softer to not rile us up, but I guess it didn’t work,” Knavel said. “… but it was weird that they sent everyone out instead of just kicking those people out who were causing problems like at sporting events where if a group of people do something stupid, they are singled out and kicked out,” Knavel said.

Astle contends there were just too many kids causing problems.

“The problem is, you start kicking one to two kids out, which we’ve done before, but it was a multiple number of kids. We want to give them a chance to enjoy these dances and have a clean and safe environment in their high school career,” Astle said. “We thought we provided that, so it is unfortunate it was pushed to the limit. Safety always comes first.”

It was sophomore Joelle Hurst’s first dance. The day of the dance, Hurst had butterflies and spent the day getting ready, with her hair professionally done and an expensive dress. She had also purchased tickets for the dance ahead of time.

“We went to the dance and were planning on having a good time, and it was actually calmer than I expected, having heard that some of Layton High dances can get insane,” Hurst said. “I was having a ton of fun dancing with my date, but then it was automatically done and I was really confused at first with boys chanting and someone starting to sing. I was very miffed that they ended it for all of us rather than finding the certain students who were causing problems.”

Some students also expressed concern they were left out in the cold temperatures waiting for their rides to drive to Salt Lake from Layton to pick them up earlier than planned.

“My date didn’t have a coat, so we had to wait outside for the parents to come get us, and it was pretty cold,” Knavel said.

Astle says it could have been much worse had someone gotten hurt.