Fezziwig's Ball 2012

This Saturday was Fezziwig's Ball! Hooray! It was wild and fun and a great success. But I was chastised repeatedly for not posting anything in my blog, so I must be better now. Life is hard (and so is grad school, go figure!). I had been toying with the idea of making a new ballgown for this event, but had given up on the idea when I realized how busy I am. On Thursday night, Mother convinced me to go for it. So we worked Thursday night, and Friday night after a long day of work. Then I worked through the day on Saturday, and wore the dress (mostly finished) to the ball that night! Whew. There are some unfinished edges that you can't see, and obviously no closures (why do I never get as far as closures???), but it was a pretty solid effort anyway. I'll write a different post about my dress, and for now mostly show you great pictures of people dancing. I made a real effort to get more nice photos than usual!

Raven went caroling looking just like a doll, don't you think?

Quinn is far too together. She had an amazing new 1820s ballgown (with fabulous appliques!), but also a new pelisse and lots of fur for caroling. Can't compete with all of that!

Dancing!

More dancing. I might not caption these all if I have nothing to say.

I attempt to do Art. With a capital A.

Massive Grand March

A very Grand March indeed

If you tie everyone up on one side of the room, it looks like there is more space.

I don't recall which dance this is. I think the Opera Reel.

There's Mother, on the sidelines

So much Spanish Dance

You can always spot Mr. Fezziwig, because he's so very tall!

Sneak Preview of THE CORALINE

Guerriere Weekend at the Charlestown Navy Yard

This weekend was AMAZING. CVD did a fabulous performance at the Commandant's House at the Charlestown Navy Yard. This was part of their Guerriere Weekend celebrations - in 1812 the USS Constitution fought the Guerriere and won spectacularly. For the Bicentennial, they got a bunch of 1812 reenactor groups in for a camping event in the Navy Yard, and the Constitution went out under its own power for only the second time in the past 100 years or so. The whole event was a pretty big deal, and we had an unspeakably wonderful time in their gorgeous 1805 house. I should sort these pictures into a sensible order, but it is too difficult. In the interest of not taking any longer to post this, here are random pictures with commentary.

We put together a great lunch. Pickles! Alex and I both understand that pickles are the ideal food.

The punch bowl was for raspberry shrub that I made, which people found quite inoffensive for a vinegar-based drink. There was also delicious syllabub thanks to Julia R, and great cookies to dip in it from Raven. Not to mention lots of bread and cheese and Gibraltars (old fashioned peppermint and lemon candies made in Salem, MA).

Eating food, but more importantly you can see how cute Julia's hairstyle was.

We went out to see the Constitution! This was on Saturday when it wasn't moving.

Another picture with the ship.

I think I'm pulling on my gloves. Anyway, don't we look pretty? We had some good down time for chatting and playing games, in between dance performances. After all, we were there ALL DAY Saturday and for several hours on Sunday too!

See? Some nice casual sitting. I think they were just playing cards, but you can't see the cards anymore.

Blind Man's Buff is actually fun! Somehow I did not expect that.

Some key features for making it fun? Play with silly people you know pretty well. Play on a solid floor (not on grass), so you can hear them walking about. Make sure to bait your friends - it is funnier to watch and more likely to get you caught.

Mother wins an award for being the funniest. You see Mark catching Julia in this picture. While he was trying to identify her, Mother leaned on her shoulder and said "But do I really have to do this again?" She completely faked him out, and he was awfully surprised to find himself facing Julia. It was really hilarious.

Because the furnishings are modern (the house was a designer house a few years ago), we actually get to sit on them. This was as comfortable as it was pretty.

The third floor is all covered with these fabulous murals. I wanted a picture of myself with the pretty boats.

Mother took a picture with Bunker Hill, though. The murals are modern, but they are very pretty.

Me with another ship, in a little stair alcove. You can see the silly hair I attempted for the day.

After a long day of performing and a lovely concert, we hosted a ball for the reenactors. A lot of them didn't stick it out to the end, but a few dedicated dancers did. It was really nice to meet some of them, and also to meet a lot of nice rangers. Some of the rangers even tried dancing with us! Everyone did really well, so we did some pretty complicated dances.

Of course, then we did some more performing on Saturday. I don't have the best pictures of us performing because I was too busy dancing and thinking to take any. We did have a dedicated photographer (thanks Laura), so perhaps when I see her pictures I will do another post.

Oh, back to blind man's buff. I told you I hadn't sorted these for order - sorry!

Another one!

And another shot of the ball.

We had really great musicians. Seriously, they made my day!

Guerriere the Terrier! The Navy Yard has a charming museum (you should go!), and obviously we went straight for the gift shop.

But there were other museum shenanigans. Here Julia and Raven reenact a melodramatic parting.

I have a cannon!

Quinn scrubs the deck.

Cute girls in hammocks! Just for the record, that creepy guy creeping on us is actually a cut-out, and part of the museum exhibit. We didn't notice him as we took the picture, but he looks pretty funny now that you look at it...

Poor Julia is hungry.

This was my favorite! We tried our hand at tying up a sail. Mixed success... but we look really cute doing it.

The weather was great on Sunday, so we had a fabulous picnic.

Here is the Emma looking very pretty, watching the Constitution come in from its trip. We had a pretty epic adventure ourselves, as we raced to find a good spot from which to see. Word of warning - hopping a fence is never my strong suit, but a regency dress is an odd outfit for adventures of this nature.

Isn't she beautiful?

Remember, we tried this at the museum, but I suspect these guys were a lot better at it. Plus they are actually really high up. Impressive, no?

We were the ones who went running for a new spot. I think it paid off.

I love this one, where we're waving.

With cute soldiers! We also talked to some of them earlier in the day, and a few of them had come to the ball. Soldiers who dance? Fantastic! When we saw them all standing together we had to ask for a picture.

Ah! I've hardly talked about clothing. An oversight. I had a new white dress (and Julia a new pink one), but my favorite part of this outfit was the jewelry. I stole this pretty coral necklace from some box of Mother's a while ago (she doesn't mind sharing, though). When I was in Vienna we saw some grape earrings like this at a museum gift shop and almost bought them, but then we didn't. Then I decided I had really wanted them after all, because coral jewelry is such a very regency thing and we're heading in the direction of doing much more regency dancing and events (what can I say - people actually like it!). I found these on ebay and it was clearly meant to be! The end.

The Pimp Polka

Inquiring minds wanted to know (see my previous post). Luckily, I have a poor quality video! I can take no responsibility for this, but Nick and the two Julia's came up with it, and I think it is fairly darling (if questionably named).

Speed Virginia Reel at Ochre Court

The Virginia Reel is an interesting dance. No matter how carefully you teach it, there are always a few people who refuse to wait for the music and push the speed. When you're trying to be serious and have a lovely and period accurate ball, this can be irritating. Speed Virginia Reel doesn't even try that hard, and instead strives to be insane. It was invented by teenagers a couple of months ago (Nick W and Julia P - you know it is all your fault, guys), and it doesn't even pretend to be dancing to music. Is it a farce? A race? A dance with death? You decide - but it results in photos good enough for their own post! Here are some of my favorites