Victories and the Victorian Ball

This is our Fearless Leader of the Ball, Professor Paula Trimpey. She had to make herself a new dress because she lent out her old dresses!

Victorian Dancing

Victorian Dancing in Quartets

"Chaining"

"Chaining"

Erica (in her dress that she designed and made), Kaitlin, and I.

Erica being excited because she won daises to put in her window.

Kate in her dress after the Ball in the Krause Lounge.

Erica and I being goofy in our pretty dresses. We got odd looks from some people. I bet they were thinking "How un-cooth!" or "They are bad at playing make-believe!"


Hello All!

I am so sorry, I have simply been the most boring person you could ever image for the past 2 months. No really, I have done nothing to shout from the roof tops or announce, but this weekend, this weekend was a different story.

Wednesday (which is not really the weekend, but that is when the victories started) I finished my collagraphs. A collagraph is a type of print, where you take cardboard and pile on scraps that have texture, it can be anything from glue to gold to feathers and leaves, onto the cardboard. You seal all of these textured materials with this pastie-stuff (Professor Kristen Woodward, if you are reading this, please, don't deduct points for my lack of technical terms...). I HATE collagraphs, it is completely backwards, and I had the hardest time envisioning the end product, the print. So I was frustrated, beyond words. I was lost in this sea of pastie-stuff, feathers, lace, cardboard, leaves, and other miscellanious things that I had, literally, picked from miscellanious recylcing bins around campus. That is correct, the victory started with humbling myself to go through recycling bins (a lesson I have now learned thanks to Betsy Kiddy and Kristen Woodward, and them making me do something I dispise). So it was time to print, and printing, printing is at the very best a stressful and messy process. I printed. I used all the colors of the rainbow. I used texture. I had just enough paper to finish 5 collagraph prints, and I even set the printing roller to the correct weight for my print! I got texture, I got color, and I got a passing grade! And, the true victory: I was actually proud of one of my prints! Even though it was my "worst" print according to Kristen, I was prouid of it. It was sloppy around the egdes, but it had good texture, perfect blending of the colors, Evita's (the subject of my piece) hair was a beautiful gold, my chin-collet (some fancy french word that I sounded out, so it is spelled wrong) was contrasting to the vibrant colors, and I was just over all happy with my work. This all is coming from an audience member: I love art, to look at and discuss, but I do not have the skills to create, and I don't like getting dirty (ink dyes your hands colors for days!). I was proud; I was walking around like a peacock with his feathers splade for a bit. Now, if the rest of my prints could go as well. Keep your fingers crossed.

Then Saturday!
Saturday at Albright College a Victorian Ball was held. And it was fabulous! We woke up early in the morning, a bunch fo friends and I, and we went to Victorian Ball Dancing Lessions. We were there for 2 hours! But it was lots of fun, and we met some of the people who were going to be there that night. And we got to scope out the "bachelors" who would be there too! There was one man who was a very good dancer and a better leader, I could actually waltz with him! It was a blast, and then later we could all see each other with pretty dresses and handsome outfits.
I met a whole bunch of new friends, danced with the President (of the college) and his wife, danced with lots of professors, met their wives, and chatted with the Victorian Dance Crew. They were so good at dancing! They were the ones that taught us how to dance, they just travel around and go to balls almost every weekend! Some of them mae fun of me because I was tall, and it was very obvious when I messed up (except at the ball, because the dresses hide your feet, thank goodness!). They were all very shocked when I came to the ball and actually looked okay! They were wonderfully nice and patient people.
And the dancing! It was fun! It was all group dancing, with a partner, so you had a designated partner, but you danced with a group. It was so much fun! There was spinning, and cirlcing, and triangles made with your feet. My favorite is called "the Spanish Waltz". You waltz in a triangle, with two couples, and the women do a some what complicated spin under the mens arms to change positions, and you open up partners and then get real close to your partner and the other set of partners, and you "chain", and go around in a cirlce joining hands with all the other partners. The dances are simple, but they involve a lot of remembering! It was so much fun! Not to mention the whole getting dressed up, getting your hair done, and looking pretty for a bit. It was like playing Make-Believe when you were little, but more fun!
I have lots of pictures! Look at all the beautiful dresses (Most were made by the person who is wearing them. Except mine, a professor and two friends of mine made mine. Paula, Erica, and Kira: Thanks bunches!)

Have fun! Enjoy the pictures!
~Emma