Norah Owings, 18, and Noah Miller, 18Elkton High School, Elkton, Ore. Elkton is one of the smallest schools in the country: there are 15 students in this year's graduating class.“Some of us have been together from preschool through 12th grade," says Miller.Gillian Laub for TIME
For kids and communities across America, prom night is both an enduring rite of passage and a sign of the times. This April, TIME commissioned photographer Gillian Laub to document this ritual in a journey that would take her across the country to Georgia, Missouri, Arizona, Oregon, New York and Massachusetts. In the resulting photo essay, “Last Dance,” Laub captured the bittersweet anticipation and excitement surrounding the annual tradition through a series of striking portraits of teenage prom attendees.
“Last Dance” is, in many ways, the culmination of a 10-year project for the New York City based photographer. One of the schools that appears in the essay, Montgomery County High School in Mount Vernon, Ga., first appeared on Laub’s radar when she traveled there in 2002 to photograph its homecoming festivities, then segregated by race, on an assignment with SPIN magazine. Seven years later, she returned to photograph Montgomery County High School’s prom, still segregated by race, for a project that was published by the New York Times magazine.
That would be the last time Montgomery County High School held a segregated prom, and Laub returned again this April to photograph students getting ready for just the third integrated event in the school’s history. “Naturally the first prom I photographed for the TIME essay was Montgomery County High School,” Laub says. “I wanted to follow the only biracial couple attending the prom. Only three years earlier they wouldn’t have been allowed to be each other’s dates.”
The word “prom” first appeared in 1894 in the journal of an Amherst College student going to a prom at Smith College nearby. In the century since, prom has become a distinctly high school tradition, a last chance for classmates to party together, before post-graduation plans send them in different directions. Today, as Laub’s pictures show, getting ready for prom plays as big a role as the dance itself; it plays out to big business, too. A 2012 survey predicted families would spend an average of $1,078 on prom, including costs for outfits, hair, makeup and manicures. The Dwight-Englewood girls wearing haute designers like Alice Temperley and Roberto Cavalli almost certainly spent much more, while many students from Joplin High School in Joplin, Mo.—the site of a devastating tornado a little over a year ago—arrived at prom in donated attire.
Proms represent other rites of passage too. On May 19 in Massachusetts, the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth hosted its 32nd annual prom—the nation’s oldest for GLBT youth—10 days after Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to endorse gay marriage.
“I love the ritual, the time, effort and thought about every detail of preparation to put their best foot forward,” says Laub about documenting proms. “It’s a moment in their lives of transition and hope.” For the students, yes, and perhaps for their schools and communities, too.
Gillian Laub is a photographer based in New York and a frequent contributor to TIME. See more of her work here.
From left: Miguel Castanos, 18, Eliza Lopez, 18, Flavio Fonseca, 18, Alexandra Mata, 17, Deliala Robles, 17, Arturo Garcia, 20San Luis High School, San Luis, Ariz.San Luis High School is located on the U.S.-Mexico border, and several of the students traveled across the border to get their hair and makeup done for the prom.Gillian Laub for TIMEAlexandra Mata, 17San Luis High School, San Luis, Ariz."It’s the one event that brings the whole school together,” Mata says.Gillian Laub for TIMEJoseph Dell Ramirez, 17 (at right)Elkton High School, Elkton, Ore.“I wanted to try something original that I knew no one else would do," Ramirez says of his suit. He originally planned for purple and white, until he saw the green option at the tux shop.Gillian Laub for TIMEJanika Oikarainen, 17Elkton High School, Elkton, Ore.Oikarainen is an exchange student from Finland. "I didn't really have any expectations," she says.Gillian Laub for TIMEChristy FloresElkton High School, Elkton, Ore.Flores, from a town about a half an hour's drive from Elkton, attended the small school's prom.Gillian Laub for TIMENorah Owings, 18, and Noah Miller, 18Elkton High School, Elkton, Ore. Elkton is one of the smallest schools in the country: there are 15 students in this year's graduating class.“Some of us have been together from preschool through 12th grade," says Miller.Gillian Laub for TIMEAmber Jones, 18Montgomery County High School, Mount Vernon, Ga."There's not a lot to do in these parts, so prom is really the only time we get to dress up and hang out together," she says.Gillian Laub for TIMESibongile Toure, 16Benjamin Banneker Academy, Brooklyn, N.Y.“I always knew I’d go to prom—it’s such a tradition,” says Toure, who predicts she’ll be the only student to wear a headscarf at her June 13 prom. “You can be proper, dress modestly and still have fun.”Gillian Laub for TIMEAlexandra Mata, 17San Luis High School, San Luis, Ariz.Mata traveled to Mexico to have her hair and makeup done for prom.Gillian Laub for TIMEAnna Karpman, 18Dwight-Englewood High School. Englewood, N.J.“It’s a last hurrah,” says Karpman of her senior prom, held on May 18. “The boys finally look together, and with the girls, it’s all about who they’re wearing.” Karpman, above, who plans to attend parsons the New School for Design in New York City this fall, chose a Vera Wang dress, Jimmy Choo heels and an Oscar de la Renta cuff.Gillian Laub for TIMENew Jersey's Dwight-Englewood School held its prom in a rented hall in midtown Manhattan.Gillian Laub for TIMEAllison White, 17, taking photoJoplin High School, Joplin, Mo."It’s celebrating the end of the year and everyone has a good time at prom," White says. "It’s just a happy time.”Gillian Laub for TIMETyler Hankins (right), 18Joplin High School, Joplin, Mo. The Joplin prom was held almost exactly a year after a deadly tornado ripped through the area.“Everyone knew a friend who lost someone or something in the tornado last year,” says Hankins. “The student body seemed a lot closer this year.”Gillian Laub for TIMEDominique Mayfield,16, at left, and Matt Parsons, 17.Joplin High School, Joplin, Mo."When we got there everybody had fun and everybody forgot about what had happened," Mayfield says of having prom one year after the Joplin tornado.Gillian Laub for TIMEDillon Worth, 18, and Eugene Caban, 17The Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth, Boston. The BAGLY prom is the nation's oldest prom for LGBT students.“I wouldn’t feel comfortable at my school with the homophobes who are there,” Worth says. “At BAGLY, you can go wild, be yourself.”Gillian Laub for TIMEDaunasia Yancey, 20, at left, and Alyssa Green, 21.The Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth, Boston."BAGLY is a great opportunity to be with other young LGBT youth in a party atmosphere. You don't get that often," says Yancey. "I went to a pretty accepting high school but it's just more comfortable to be with people like you. I'm not 'the lesbian' in the group. I don't stand out."Gillian Laub for TIMEKarl Jacobs-Brown, 21The Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth, Boston"It's an iconic reference," says Jacobs-Brown of his Carrie-inspired costume. "I love horror movies."Gillian Laub for TIMESisters Brooke, 18, and Bethany Beecher, 20, get their hair done for prom, at a dance studio run by a friend.Mount Vernon, Ga. Gillian Laub for TIMEFrom left: Brooke Beecher, 18, Juquan Peeples, 17, Holden Boone, 18, and Bethany Beecher, 20.Montgomery County High School, Mount Vernon, Ga. Until 2010, Montgomery County High School held separate proms for African-American and white students. Brooke Beecher was crowned prom queen at this year's integrated event.Gillian Laub for TIMEJuquan Peeples, 17, and Brooke Beecher, 18Montgomery County High School, Mount Vernon, Ga. "It’s really the parents who care, but when it’s just us, everything is cool," says Peeples of being part of the only interracial couple at a formerly-segregated prom. "I’ve been talking to Brooke since sixth grade.”Gillian Laub for TIMEShamonte SharpeMontgomery County High School, Mount Vernon, Ga.Sharpe poses near the store where she bought her dress.Gillian Laub for TIMEQuanti Jorden, left, and Rashada WilliamsMontgomery County High School, Mount Vernon, Ga.Jorden and Williams pose by a car.Gillian Laub for TIMEBrooke Beecher, 18, leftMontgomery County High School, Mount Vernon, Ga.Beecher's grandmother, Peggy Glisson, says that seeing her granddaughter get dressed—"seeing how pretty she was"—was the best part of preparing for prom.Gillian Laub for TIMEKayKay McGowan, 18The Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth, Boston."I've gone to it twice and it's always the best time," McGowan says of the BAGLY prom. "It's just a good time where you don't have to feel insecure about yourself."Gillian Laub for TIMESara Oliff, 17Dwight-Englewood High School. Englewood, N.J."It's a fun time to be with your friends, the last big party," says Oliff. But the prom itself wasn't the most fun part of prom: "The best part was probably the bus ride."Gillian Laub for TIME
