One more weekend on the road, then things become calm for the holidays with three relatively quiet weekends in a row. I can't wait. But this weekend I'm headed up to Boston for two events:
On Saturday night, I will attend the Fezziwig Ball in Salem, which is being held by my good friends in the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers. They've asked for costume from the lifetime of Dickens, which means 1817-1870. I suspect they're looking more for 1830s-1860s, but I plan to take advantage of the early part of the range and wear something Empire-waisted. With luck, this will include wearing new stays, gown, and still-TBD outer garment (since the ball is preceded by a lantern-light parade). How much of this actually happens...well, let's just say it's going to be a long night in the sewing room. I've already decided, given the likely temperature and my lack of sewing time, that punting on a bonnet and going with my black sheepskin hat and muff for the parading is probably a good idea.
On Sunday, I'm running an afternoon tea dance in Cambridge for CVD and Eclectic Enterprises' Mostly Victorian Tea Dance series. (Update 12/20/09: This tea dance is CANCELED due to severe weather conditons.) I'm likely to not be in costume for this one due to general lameness and the fact that long gowns make it harder to teach and demonstrate steps. The format is an instruction period followed by social dancing followed by more advanced instruction, food, and more social dancing. The dances will be a general 19th-century mix of couple dances (waltz, polka, schottische, galop) and set dances (contras, quadrilles). I will probably focus the teaching on the schottische and polka. Music will be some mix of recorded and live.
Given that schedule and the fact that I want to spend time Sunday morning with the friend I'm staying with, I won't really have time to socialize outside of these dances during this trip, but I would love to chat with anyone who's coming to either of these events. I will have much more time for this at the ball than at the tea dance, since I'm not in charge of anything at the ball.
Tomorow evening, I'm meeting fellow bloggers in Oakland. On Sunday evening, I'll be taking public transportation all the way from SF's East Bay to the Castro District. The Castro Theater is showing Hitchcock's North by Northwest.
Have a good weekend, Susan, and my fellow visitors to Rixo.
Posted by: Serge | December 19, 2009 at 12:25 AM
The WashPost movie reviewer says Lovers of pomp, pageantry and extravagant period detail will find themselves exceedingly well served by "The Young Victoria,". No mention of dance, but there's surely costumes.
Posted by: Marilee J. Layman | December 19, 2009 at 03:40 PM
I've just updated this post to note that the Sunday tea dance has been canceled due to severe weather conditions. Fooey!
Worst of all possible worlds: stuck in Boston and no gig.
Posted by: Susan de Guardiola | December 20, 2009 at 08:19 AM
Susan...
That sounds like the title of a movie for the Independent Film Channel.
Posted by: Serge | December 20, 2009 at 09:10 AM
Susan... Hopefully, in case of such dire situations, you brought with you some of the considerable amount of fiction that normally encumber your home's premises.
Posted by: Serge | December 20, 2009 at 09:12 AM
I had a book with me, but I mostly sat and talked to my hostess, who is a very good friend (and the widow of my dance-research-mentor, as well as a researcher herself). We don't get a lot of time to just hang out when neither of us is rushing out the door to run a dance, so it was nice and relaxing. Then we shoveled snow, which was a pain. But I got home in about three hours, which is not much worse than usual (2.5). The local roads were a mess but once I hit the highway everything was clear and smooth sailing the whole distance. Tomorrow morning I have to get up early and shovel my snow, but I didn't have the heart to do it tonight.
Posted by: Susan de Guardiola | December 20, 2009 at 09:14 PM
Susan... I'm glad to read that there was a silver lining to the inclement weather.
Posted by: Serge | December 21, 2009 at 08:19 AM
Marilee,
I think I'm done with movies for awhile, other than perhaps Avatar, which I probably ought to see just because it's likely to show up on the Hugo ballot.
Posted by: Susan de Guardiola | December 29, 2009 at 06:35 PM