Although students will not be able to dance the night away at the annual Winter Ball this year, they will be able to do so later this spring at a similar Yale College Council-sponsored dance.

Yale Student Activities Committee members said they decided to change the date, venue and theme of the event this year to make it more entertaining. Cold weather and the Winter Ball’s proximity to other dances such as the Freshman Screw may have a negative effect on turnout, dance co-planner and YSAC member Jessica Nachman ’07 said. The new event will take place on March 31.

“We started to change things up, and then we thought we should move it to a date with better weather,” Nachman said. “We were pretty much all in favor of moving it.”

While a theme has not yet been determined, admission will cost $10 per couple — half of last year’s price — and food may be served, said YSAC member Karla Martinez ’08, another co-planner of the event. All proceeds from the dance will support the Yale Relay for Life, an overnight fund-raising walk for the American Cancer Society that is taking place the next day.

Martinez also said she thinks attendance at the event will depend very much on who the DJ is and where the dance takes place. She said she hopes the venue — she is trying to secure the Davenport College dining hall — and a good DJ will encourage people to dress up.

While YSAC has taken primary responsibility for planning the dance, YCC members said they also support the idea of moving the Winter Ball back.

“I think the decision to change the format is a good one,” YCC Representative R. David Edelman ’07 said. “The fact that the Winter Ball has been less than a success the last few years certainly necessitated a change.”

Adedana Ashebir ’09 said that although she had been looking forward to Winter Ball, she is not disappointed with the replacement dance.

“It doesn’t really matter, just as long as they’re still having an event that involves the entire school body,” she said.

Alison Kadesch ’08, who decided not to attend the event last year, said she was not particularly enthusiastic about it.

“I didn’t even know they were going to have another Winter Ball this year,” she said. “I probably wouldn’t have gone anyway.”

Christopher Wells ’06 said he was not disappointed to find out that the Winter Ball had been cancelled. He said the dance is usually more popular among freshmen and sophomores.

“It’s just another dining hall dance, and you can only go to so many of those,” he said.