Okay, interesting. Yeah, I had a vague notion that it had been a requirement (same here, at the right sort of officer schools, I believe). I must look into whether it would still have been seriously applied when Jack was at the Academy.

I have a soft spot for the whole formal dance thing, but I've seen it applied in all sorts of ridiculous ways across pretty much every fandom I've been involved in (oh, the X-Files fandom was obsessed with it), so I'm always wary of believing it fits with real life until I see it done by people who I know do their research. :)