At the end of the runway, two buff bouncers guard the proverbial silk rope.
A guy in a collared shirt with a University ID approaches them, only to be rebuffed.
He retreats and encounters two women, dressed for a night out on the town, who give him a quick makeover and escort him back up to the bouncers. This time he gets in with no trouble as 50 Cent's "In Da Club" pounds in the background.
Rather than taking place outside a D.C. club, these events were in Memorial Gym -- part of the Spring Fling Fashion Show, one of the major events of Spring Fling, a weekend devoted to black student recruitment on Grounds.
In addition to the various scenes enacted onstage during the fashion show, the weekend featured an activities fair, panel discussions with faculty, administrators and the Greek community and a performance by multi-platinum recording artist Ludacris.
Every year the weekend attracts hundreds of prospective students and their parents. The students have already been accepted into the University, but are still making the all-important decision of whether Virginia is the place for them.
"It's a process of being involved, where you let the truth be known about your school," third-year College student Kenton Barnes said.
This year, as talk around Grounds focuses on recent racial incidents and how they should be confronted, the weekend had a slightly different focus.
In addition to persuading students that the University is home to a wide variety of exciting events and organizations, this year's Spring Fling also had to persuade prospectives and their parents that the University is a safe place to go to school.
M. Rick Turner, dean of the Office of African-American Affairs, said he felt the best approach was to confront the issue head-on.
"One of the things I think all of us decided to do -- administration and faculty -- was to be honest and up-front with parents and prospective students," Turner said. "Many parents said they really appreciated that, because everyone had heard about the problems."
Turner participated in a reception for prospective students and their parents, which he said was the Office of African American Affairs' main contribution to Spring Fling.
The reception provides an opportunity for students and parents to interact with faculty and administrators. This year, many questions centered around race relations.
"We didn't hide anything," Turner said. "I felt very good, and I think parents felt very good, about the honesty."
Turner said he felt the weekend was very successful.
"We wanted to let them know yes, we have had some problems -- so do all predominantly white and historically black institutions," Turner said. "They're going to have problems because they haven't found a way to honestly talk about race relations."
Turner also said he felt it was important to make prospectives aware of the continuing efforts to solve these problems.
Third-year College student Melissa Scott, a member of the board of admissions, agreed that it was important to address questions about race relations head on.
In fact, in light of the recent incidents on Grounds, Scott said she felt that Spring Fling was even more important this year.
Scott said current students fielded a lot of questions about whether they felt safe and comfortable here.
"One of the main things that we definitely had to deal with was the safety issue," Scott said. "Especially parents asking 'What is being done? Is it something the administration is taking seriously?'"
Scott also was involved with training student hosts. Prospectives who register to attend Spring Fling have the option of living with a current student for the weekend.
Scott said this year's training contained an additional element of how to address questions about events such as the Lundy assault.
The training included responses to issues "as far as what's being talked about, how you should mention to students the reaction that took place, the administration's reaction and the diversity initiative," Scott said. "We knew that was going to be a big issue."
Like Turner, Scott said she felt the weekend was a success.
Turnout was about the same as years past, Scott said. "I thought it went really well."
First-year College student Aaron Jennings, co-chair of the hosting committee, said he didn't get many race relations questions this weekend, but he has been getting them from prospective students through e-mail.
"From my own perspective, I tell them the University is a microcosm of the U.S.," Jennings said. "The best thing is to prepare yourself -- don't be naive, do your own thing, make sure you're aware of your surroundings."
Barnes, who took part in Saturday's activities fair as a representative of Young Black Entrepreneurs, said he felt the hosts were doing a good job addressing the race issues.
"A lot of them were kind of settled, I guess from being around their hosts," Barnes said. "They were really impressed with the initiative the African-American students here are taking."
Barnes said he felt Spring Fling was a chance for the University community to address the true situation with race relations on Grounds rather than the skewed perspective prospective students get through the news.
"As a prospective you don't know the extent of the matter -- you need to get first hand sources," Barnes said. "Instead of just hearing the story, they're seeing the work that's done from the story. I'm impressed with the initiative a lot of my peers are taking."
Barnes said he felt that if he had been a prospective this year, he still would have decided to come.
"I would have been scared beforehand, but looked at it and seen that this is a potential opportunity for me," Barnes said. "As a first-year student, that's something that you can come into and be actively involved with."
Barnes was impressed with the amount of work current students put into Spring Fling.
"I didn't have the chance to go through Spring Fling myself -- it's all about being embraced when they come, all about extending myself when I saw the deer-in-the-headlights type eyes," Barnes said.
Overall, Barnes said he felt the weekend provided a welcoming environment for potential Cavaliers.
"It was definitely a good time," Barnes said. "The vibe on the Corner Friday night was amazing, with Club Rev and the fashion show after party. I wish the Corner vibe was like that every weekend. It's a good environment for kids to come into and see what the school's all about."
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