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A lovely time, and a lovely time.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day went beautifully.
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curiousangel and I went to the New Year's English Ball sponsored by the Folklore Society of Greater Washington, and had a lovely time. It's held in a beautiful 18th century mill building, with food and drinks set up on the first floor and dancing on the second. There was ample space for three sets across - in comparison to the hall we use for the Playford Ball, where three sets across means you'd better not have to back up - and the room never felt crowded. Lots of people, lots of beautiful clothing, lots of dancing.
One of the highlights of my evening was dancing with, and being chatted up by, the ten-year-old son of one of the regular dancers. I asked him to dance, and while we were waiting in the set he said suavely, "That's a beautiful dress. Black is really your color." "Wow, thanks!" I said. "You're good with compliments." He confessed: "I spend a lot of time before things like this thinking up things I could say to people. And figuring out if they're rude or not." I acknowledged the wisdom of this strategy, and we wandered on (don't ask how we got there) to speculating about how Siamese twins might manoeuver through an English Country Dance. "I get along a lot better with adults than with people my age," he said after that. "Yeah, I was the same way," I said. "Eventually, the people your age catch up - but it takes a looong time." "Well, I figure that I'm going to be an adult for most of my life." And I can tell that he'll do so admirably. He's gotten a great start.
The only drawback to the evening was that, because apparently a number of people showed up who weren't familiar with English Country Dance, each dance of the evening was taught and walked through before being danced. It was still fun, but it felt a lot more like a practice session than a festive ball. I remember being outraged once when a dancer from New York said that inexperienced people there were gently discouraged from attending balls, but for heaven's sake: if you don't know how to do three changes of rights and lefts, you probably should stick to practice sessions. That's not elitism, it's just the voice of reason.
Champagne toast at midnight, and the singing of "Auld Lang Syne." The custom is to wander around the room clinking glasses with pretty much every person you know and some people you don't, wishing them all a happy new year. Whencuriousangel and I finished doing that, we went home to bed.
In the morning, last-minute cleaning, coffee cake baking, and so on. The first brunch guest showed up just at one, the time listed on the invitation. (Of course, I wasn't really expecting anyone that early, so the poor guy got put to work.) I worried a bit at first about whether friends we knew from different places would jell together properly, but with the serving of the food everyone seemed to relax and loosen up and great conversations appeared to be had by all. It looked for a while as though there would be way too much food, but over the course of a long afternoon and evening most of it got eaten. The last guest left at 9:30, more than eight hours after brunch started, so I guess we did good. *grin* Thanks tominnaleigh, geekchick, geminigirl, wcg, mittelschmertz, fourgates, and our non-LJ-having guests for a wonderful time. We just might have to make this an annual tradition.
curiousangel and I went to the New Year's English Ball sponsored by the Folklore Society of Greater Washington, and had a lovely time. It's held in a beautiful 18th century mill building, with food and drinks set up on the first floor and dancing on the second. There was ample space for three sets across - in comparison to the hall we use for the Playford Ball, where three sets across means you'd better not have to back up - and the room never felt crowded. Lots of people, lots of beautiful clothing, lots of dancing.One of the highlights of my evening was dancing with, and being chatted up by, the ten-year-old son of one of the regular dancers. I asked him to dance, and while we were waiting in the set he said suavely, "That's a beautiful dress. Black is really your color." "Wow, thanks!" I said. "You're good with compliments." He confessed: "I spend a lot of time before things like this thinking up things I could say to people. And figuring out if they're rude or not." I acknowledged the wisdom of this strategy, and we wandered on (don't ask how we got there) to speculating about how Siamese twins might manoeuver through an English Country Dance. "I get along a lot better with adults than with people my age," he said after that. "Yeah, I was the same way," I said. "Eventually, the people your age catch up - but it takes a looong time." "Well, I figure that I'm going to be an adult for most of my life." And I can tell that he'll do so admirably. He's gotten a great start.
The only drawback to the evening was that, because apparently a number of people showed up who weren't familiar with English Country Dance, each dance of the evening was taught and walked through before being danced. It was still fun, but it felt a lot more like a practice session than a festive ball. I remember being outraged once when a dancer from New York said that inexperienced people there were gently discouraged from attending balls, but for heaven's sake: if you don't know how to do three changes of rights and lefts, you probably should stick to practice sessions. That's not elitism, it's just the voice of reason.
Champagne toast at midnight, and the singing of "Auld Lang Syne." The custom is to wander around the room clinking glasses with pretty much every person you know and some people you don't, wishing them all a happy new year. When
curiousangel and I finished doing that, we went home to bed.In the morning, last-minute cleaning, coffee cake baking, and so on. The first brunch guest showed up just at one, the time listed on the invitation. (Of course, I wasn't really expecting anyone that early, so the poor guy got put to work.) I worried a bit at first about whether friends we knew from different places would jell together properly, but with the serving of the food everyone seemed to relax and loosen up and great conversations appeared to be had by all. It looked for a while as though there would be way too much food, but over the course of a long afternoon and evening most of it got eaten. The last guest left at 9:30, more than eight hours after brunch started, so I guess we did good. *grin* Thanks to
minnaleigh, geekchick, geminigirl, wcg, mittelschmertz, fourgates, and our non-LJ-having guests for a wonderful time. We just might have to make this an annual tradition.
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And, the ten year old kid was right. Black is a good color on you.:)
Gesi
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(Oo, la, la!)
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If I were Rivka
Fortunately, for the universe at large, I am not Rivka. :-)Ä
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Some groups get pretty intense about wearing garb, and others are equally intense about evening wear.
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