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[personal profile] rivka
Last night was the Baltimore Folk Music Society's annual Playford Ball - my third since I've been doing English Country Dancing. It was a lovely, lovely evening. I think there were around 100 people there, which meant plenty of room to dance - last year the sets were so squashed together that movement was unpleasantly constricted. This year we still had three longways sets across the hall, but the individual dancers were able to spread widely enough apart that, for example, if the dance called for backing up you could back up through the line behind you, instead of coming up short against a wall of backs.

I love watching an entire hall full of people who know how to dance well, all moving in precisely the same patterns at precisely the same time. Each individual dancer has their own flourishes and puts their own stamp of personality on the patterns, but at the same time you have a hundred people dodging and weaving in such perfect synchrony that everyone is in exactly the right place and no one even bumps elbows. It's gorgeous.

I got to dance with [livejournal.com profile] curiousangel and [livejournal.com profile] wcg (who rose from his sickbed, brave man, although you couldn't tell it from watching him dance), and - yay! - with [livejournal.com profile] helygen, who came down for the weekend to attend the ball. She made quite an impression on the men present, in a simple and elegant dress [livejournal.com profile] wcg made for her.

The band - a group from Philadelphia and New Jersey called "Hold the Mustard" - was excellent at building and sustaining the energy of the crowd. Their bluesy interpretation of Smithy Hill (link is to an mp3, but not of "Hold the Mustard") sounded like it came right out of an after-hours lounge, and led to some pretty ridiculous, and yet fun, strutting and sauntering in the set I was in.

The food was excellent - little morsels of potato and herb-filled puff pastry, mini quiches, savory little meatballs, seven or eight kinds of gourmet cheeses, cold asparagus spears, zucchini, and bell pepper strips with two different dips, fancy breads cut into ornate shapes, mini cheesecakes topped with glazed fruit, rich little chocolate desserts. It was almost enough to make me forgive the woman in charge of the kitchen for being snippy about letting anyone in during afternoon ball practice. (This was a vast, uncramped kitchen, capable of handling eight or ten kitchen workers without anyone being tripped over, and there were only two people preparing food in it. But she was still mortally offended when I entered to get some water, because I was allergic to the only drink being served, and then again when [livejournal.com profile] curiousangel entered to get an ice pack for my injured ankle.)

The only thing that marred the evening for me was that someone criticized my dress. She was wearing a gorgeous concoction of embroidered white silk, and as I was asking about it she turned up her nose at mine because I wasn't wearing a bum roll or paniers beneath it. I explained that my dress was a copy of a specific 18th century gown that hadn't been worn with figure enhancers, and she treated me to a condescending little lecture about how wrong I was to think that 18th century dresses were ever worn without them, and how I had probably relied on an ignorant, inaccurate source for my pattern.

Probably everyone who's ever been in the SCA is laughing and rolling their eyes right now, but my feelings were genuinely hurt. In the first place, she was just wrong about the style of my gown - but even if she hadn't been, it's not like the Playford Ball is supposed to be about historical accuracy in dress. People were wearing anything from modern formalwear to sweeping gypsy/hippie dresses to African robes to, yes, reproductions of 18th and early 19th century clothing. People wear whatever they think is festive. It's supposed to be about dancing and fellowship. I have no idea why she thought it was appropriate to go out of her way to put me down.

[livejournal.com profile] curiousangel suggested that I accidentally spill my glass of cranberry punch over her white silk gown, but I restrained myself. Later on, when we were in the same set, she kept trying to make eye contact and smiling broadly at me. I don't know whether she thought our conversation had been friendly, or what.

Date: 2003-10-19 03:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lisajulie.livejournal.com
style-police (both of clothing and dance moves) are one reason I stay away from the more formal ECD events. I enjoy the dancing (the more complex the better), but having been in a set that degenerated into an argument about the "correct" way to do siding (aluminum, anyone?), I decided that it just wasn't fun anymore.

I took a look at your dress and it looks authentic to me - and I _have_ done some research about clothing of that period.

So, piffle to the embroidered white satin!

Date: 2003-10-19 07:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anotheranon.livejournal.com
Finally able to get the picture to download for me - I think it's lovely! I'm not sure what your snarker was on about - I'm no expert in 18th century but during all time periods there were folks who didn't wear the elaborate underpinnings. Pity you didn't have panniers though, you coulda smacked her with them!

Date: 2003-10-19 08:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rivka.livejournal.com
Thanks. And I love the image of me laying into her with paniers.

Date: 2003-10-19 08:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rivka.livejournal.com
Oh dear. Was that in this area? I've always found both the Baltimore Folk Music Society folks and the Folklore Society of Greater Washington folks to be extremely nice and welcoming. Miss White Silk Gown was from out of town, I think - or at least, I'd never met her before.

If you know the steps pretty well (there aren't generally walk-throughs), I heartily recommend the Folklore Society of Greater Washington's New Year's English Dance. It's held in the Adelphi Mill (http://www.pgparks.com/places/rental/adelphi.html), a lovely venue for dancing and built ca. 1796, and there's good food and music and pleasant company. We've been for the past two years, and loved it.

And thanks for the compliment. [livejournal.com profile] wcg made my dress for me, based on a picture in Nancy Bradfield's book Costume in Detail.

Date: 2003-10-20 05:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lisajulie.livejournal.com
That particular event happened in the DC area, but it was several decades ago and it wasn't in the BFMS/FSGW circles. Similar things have happened elsewhere and it just put me off ECD.

My particular dance form (when I have the time and energy) is contradancing. I''ve been away from it for a while, although now that I'm unemployed I'll probably wander back.

And, yes, Adelphi Mill is a fine venue for dancing and partying. It is a favorite spot for weddings/receptions/anniversary parties in the dance community.

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