Canterbury Fair would not be complete without a grand ball. This is the opportunity for any Faire-goer to dress up in their finest finery, and show it off on the dance floor.
This year, there will be a Theme for the Ball: it is "Hats through the Ages". Come along wearing a hat. But, what is a Hat? A hat is a thing worn on your head. It may be old or new, large or small, decorated or plain, in period or perhaps not, any colour. There are many possibilities.
The Dances
There will be four sets of dances:
Set 1
- Mimed Bransles (Washerwomen, Peas, Shoes, and Horses) *
- Sellengers Round *
- Maltese Bransle *
- Rostiboli Gioioso **
Set 2
- Queens Alman *
- Prens en Gre *
- Grene Ginger **
- Spagnoletta **
Set 3
- New Bo Peep *
- Petit Vriens *
- Dance de Cleves **
- Amoroso **
- La Castellana ***
Set 4
- Petite Rose **
- Temperans **
- Goddesses *
- Picking of Sticks ***
- Whirligig ***
The stars beside each dance are a difficulty rating:
* you can dance this even if you don’t know it beforehand.
** dance this one if you have some idea of how it goes, or you have a partner who does know it.
*** you really need to know it reasonably well in order to dance it. If not, look on and enjoy the skill of those expert dancers.
Between each set there will be some time to top up your drinks, adjust anything that might need adjusting, and generally chat. Also in the breaks between sets there will be other activities: some demonstration dances, and also the long-standing Tassel Kick competition wherein competitors vie to dance a galliard and gracefully brush with their foot the famed tassel as it is hung some considerable distance above the floor.
The Music
Dancing requires music, and the best dance music is live music, freshly squeezed on the spot by a resident dance band. We try to use live music as much as we can, but this depends on having willing musicians to put in the time and effort to learn the music and bring their instruments to Faire. If you want to be one of these fine people, please send an email to cfmusicians@sg.sca.org.nz, with your instrument(s) and how good you think you are. Scores of the dance music are being assembled in this Google Docs folder.