In Winter Session 2025-26 Term 2, UBC will be adding an extra five minutes to the standard 10-minute break between classes to account for slower walking speeds, due to a substantial increase in the amount of boogie-ing occurring on campus. This change comes at the recommendation of Student Health Services, after their 2025 study found that Disco is indeed back.
The study, which was published in Dancer Insider on Oct. 10, in collaboration with researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and the federal government, found there has been a 569 per cent overall increase in factors contributing to Boogie Fever cases. In a statement on their website, UBC Student Health Services stated that this points toward a full-on Disco outbreak on the horizon.
“Boogie Fever is traditionally mildly contagious, but if not frequently acted upon, it could lead to increased contagiousness. Side-effects include more flash mobs, chest hair and sequins. Nothing to be afraid of unless you hate feeling groovy,” said Dr. Mike L. Jackson, the primary investigator within the study and senior professor of discotheques in the early '70s, in an interview with The Ubyssey.
In the study, researchers observed a variety of students under various conditions. Experiments included simulations, survey responses and A/B testing. After several months of testing, they discovered there has been a 37 per cent increase in the wearing of bell-bottomed jeans, the percentage of students with afros rose to 20 per cent and the Bee Gees’ Children of the World (1976) was streamed at record-breaking rates across both Apple Music and Spotify. All factors point to UBC facing a full-blown Boogie epidemic.
For several years, there has been speculation that Disco is creeping back into the mainstream, but Big Pop, Big Rap and Big Country have banded together to dismiss these claims over the years. Dom Inatethecharts, CEO of Spotify, released a formal statement on the matter in 2021, telling music enjoyers that “Disco was your mom’s pop. Why listen to ABBA when you have Gracie Abrams? Barry Manilow? More like those songs are kinda slow.”
Contrary to Inatethecharts and others’ efforts, the study proves that, despite what Big Music is trying to make you think, Disco is indeed back (and stronger than ever) with new emerging sub-genres such as Disco-rap, Disco-house and even Disco-bedroom-pop-folk-alternative. Local organizations have taken note and have launched new initiatives to cater to this emerging generation of groovers.
“If the students want Disco, then that’s what we’ll give them,” comments George Michale, owner of The Pit, who decided to convert his weekly programmed Pit Nights to Disco Days, requiring mandatory sequined attire for entry. When asked if worried this new initiative would affect business, Michale commented, “Have you seen the new study? Disco is back, science doesn’t lie. Think about it! People love history. At first, everyone wanted their events to be Y2K themed, then it was the '90s, no one remembers the '80s so we had to skip that, but what better way to represent the '70s than with Disco balls, musky cologne, deep cut V necks and free shrooms. Just wait until 2027 — I envision The Pit will be hosting a weekly Polka Night.”
The researchers of the study are excited about the innovations which seem to be stemming from their findings; they hope that their research will spark additional studies of, funding for and conversation around the topic, with an overarching goal of finding out why Disco disappeared in the first place.
“Do you remember the 21st night of September last year? I do, and there wasn’t a feeling of comorbidity. There were no fingers pointed in the air, no arms cranked into a sprinkler, no YMCA. It was a darker and bleaker time,” said Jackson.
“Disco might be back, but we don’t know for how long, and why. We must continue diving deeper into the Boogie Fever, we must infect the world until there’s no one left unaffected, because everyone deserves to dance to Disco.”
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