Dawn Treader

[helenic]

On Saturday, the_lady_lily, devalmont and I went to the Girton Spring Ball. This was mainly because the theme was "Dawn Treader", and at the end of last term I saw a poster for it in the Classics Faculty and immediately ran to Liz squeeing "A NARNIA BALL!!! WE SO HAVE TO GO!" but I've since been converted to Spring Balls in general. Unlike their May counterparts, the year is still cold, and so rather than being an open air funfair-cum-music-festival they take place for the most part indoors. About twenty different rooms of various sizes and functions were decorated in different ways and with different themes: there was Aslan's Den, which had cushioned nooks in the walls hidden by curtains (for sex or smoking, presumably, although we didn't enter into one ourselves) and laid-back live folk music being played; Nightmare Island, a rave room with flavoured oxygen available instead of alcohol; the Magician's Study where magic tricks and comedy were being performed; a series of rooms decorated as "islands", each with a different theme (a film room, a speed dating room, a games room) and different kinds of drink available accordingly; Dodgems (outside); the Faun's Glen where beautiful topless gold-painted fauns gave massages; a lazer quest (cunningly disguised as "cave quest") and huge amounts of food and drink from salads and fruit to burgers and donuts. There was far more live music than we could ever hope to listen to, but we managed a substantial amount and got a few hours of serious dancing in, which was definitely necessary.

It had long been a Cambridge ambition to go to a ball in drag, and I decided that Girton Spring Ball (being slightly less formal than some of the May Balls) was the place to do it. After abandoning the Prince Rilian plan when I found out it wasn't a costume ball, I decided to hire a suit. This was more complicated than I'd imagined. Firstly, I didn't get served. I don't know whether it was gender discrimination or not - I imagine they simply didn't realise I wanted to be served and assumed I was just waiting for someone - but it took them well over half an hour to get to me. My request to hire a tailcoat was received with some incredulity, and I was beginning to get annoyed, especially when I found out they didn't have a single frock coat available in my size. The smallest jacket they had was a DJ. But oh, when I tried that on - it felt incredible. So comfortable, for a start, and I had pockets, and my breasts weren't really obvious at all, and the trousers fit so much better than stupid tight girly hipster trousers do - in fact they were much more flattering in general. I'd borrowed Catriona's top hat so I decided to wear it anyway - I mean you shouldn't with a DJ, officially, but seeing as I'd already abandoned convention I thought I may as well. I haven't taken the suit back to the hire place yet. I love it so much. I want one of my own.

I wasn't convincing at all, of course - women tended to grin at me (I think they assumed I was a lesbian) but men just felt uncomfortable. A few of them liked the hat, though, and asked to try it on. But the best part about cross-dressing was the dancing. Dancing in a suit is an entirely different skill to dancing in a dress. Different parts of your body are emphasised, your posture is different, and looking good in girl's clothes involves a different type of movement to looking good dressed as a man. You carry yourself differently. It's the same with dancing. I'd never really thought about it before, but as soon I tried it I realised I was going to have to get to grips with an entirely different skill. Dancing like a woman is all about your hands and your hips, where your weight rests; dancing like a man is about your shoulders and your feet. Rather than keeping the beat with your hips, you keep it with your shoulders; you look down rather than up; and instead of using your arms to illustrate the music, you use your feet. It was a fascinating experience, and even if I looked a complete fool I think I got quite good at it - at least, better than most of the other men there, although I probably still looked stupid in comparison to the women. But I've discovered I like man-dancing, and as it would look daft in women's clothes (not because of gender stereotyping, simply because of what different clothes do to your body), I'm obviously going to have to cross-dress more in order to get to do it.

Anyway, photos are here. I need to go and work. What with three hours sleep on Friday night, four on Saturday night, and dress rehearsals and auditions to be a pirate at Robinson May Ball and play performances and a jungle-themed formal hall which I helped organise to raise money for a village in Indonesia, work has been neglected somewhat over the past few days. I have two essays to do in three days, as well as language work and more performances. It's the end of term after that, but I can't afford to think about that quite yet.

Comments

[aiwendel.livejournal.com]

lovely pics :)
sounds fantastic.

twas the ceilidh band i sometimes play with... damn should've gone to more rehearsals this term n tried to make it into the ball!!
:)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[libellum.livejournal.com]

really? rah! were they the band that did a gig at Christs earlier in the term? I was at that one too :)

I didn't get to Ceilidh dance as much as I'd like, as it was incredibly crowded so it was more a mass of people than any sort of decent rings, and also I didn't have a partner - neither Liz nor Richard were up for dancing much, and it was the end of the evening and people were clinging to their dates rather than letting you partner them randomly. Shame.

What do you play, then? Do you ever go to any sessions in Cambridge? I keep intending to but haven't found any, especially now the Boat Race is closing. xx

You dirty rotten swine you...

[si1entdave.livejournal.com]

Bob Damnit girl! You look better in a suit than I do!
Glad you're having fun though. Over here at Warwick we're having the joys of second year Introduction to Software Engineering (transl: 10 weeks documentation and specification paperwork bullshit, 3 days actual coding) and trying not to drown puppies to feel better. A spot of fantasy lightens the mood immensely.
Take care, and no, you can't have a faun of your very own. So there :P

Re: You dirty rotten swine you...

[libellum.livejournal.com]

fantasy? my dear, this is every bit reality!

I can't remember when I last saw you in a suit. You probably have a smaller chest size than I do though. I'm on the lookout for miniature dress suits now as I really want one. However, I doubt I'll be able to afford anything other than second hand, so it's really just going to have to be a matter of chance.

And ha, I so WILL have a faun of my very own - _aredhel is making a faun costume for the Leicester April fetish night. Complete with fur and topless gold body paint. HA. xx

[detroitfather.livejournal.com]

You wear it well!

[libellum.livejournal.com]

*bows* why thankyou! it's reassuring to hear that from an actual gent - I was half-afraid I looked a complete tit.

[beeswing.livejournal.com]

My god, that faun!

I love the photo of you in the mirror, holding the camera. It's wonderful.

[libellum.livejournal.com]

I KNOW!!!!! the faun was SO sexy and smouldering, in a boyish sort of faun way. The same way Jonny is smouldering, you know. I really really really wanted to get a massage from them but we didn't know what time they started and were unwilling to waste the whole ball queueing. Still, was a shame.

Do you really like that one? I think it looks very posed. I don't usually like self-portraits-in-mirrors. My favourite is the one I made the icon out of. Although the hotel bathroom background gives it a certain atmosphere, I suppose... xxx

[fluffymark]

*thud*

*thud*

lots of....pretty things. FAUNS and your lovely constumes and fire poi and ....and.....and...*speechless*

[libellum.livejournal.com]

what are the thuds? jaw dropping? or something more sinister? :)

but yes. I was speechless when I saw the fauns too. I WANT A FAUN DAMNIT. xxx

[lanthanum.livejournal.com]

convincing or not, you are one fiiiiiiine peace of bow-tie and top-hat, in MY book. i'd love to be able to dress up in drag and have a night out on the town with you. :P

[libellum.livejournal.com]

eeep, thankyou! if I'm ever on your continent we should do just that. Have I ever seen pictures of you in drag? I'm thinking, but I don't think I have ...

which kind of drag do you go for, anyway? I've been thinking about this. It's actually quite hard to come up with an outfit that's unmistakably masculine without going in the suit direction. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course ;) xxx

[robert-jones.livejournal.com]

That's a very fine top hat you've got there!

I mean you shouldn't with a DJ, officially

The wing-tips are strictly wrong as well (at some point I may write a rant about the perfidy of suit-hire companies), but the overall effect is charmingly Edwardian. I mean, they certainly had the wing-tips, and they must surely have had the top hats too, because they wouldn't have gone bare-headed and I can't imagine what else they would have worn. Of course, you don't have the black waistcoat, but you can't see that in the icon. The gloominess of the photo also adds to the effect.

In short, I think this may be my new favourite Helen icon.

[libellum.livejournal.com]

It's not the same top hat you wore to Peter Pan, is it? I assume you have your own.

So if not wing-tips, what should one wear with a bow tie? I am woefully ignorant. I don't really like bow ties, though - I much prefer a waistcoat/cravat combination. Although I wouldn't know what shirt to wear with that, either :)

and thankyou! Glad you like it. I do, too.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's wonderful. I do wish I'd gone.

You know what? If I hadn't just finished making my ball dress, I'd go to Newnham in my male frock coat and a waistcoat I could probably cobble together in a couple of days. Hmm. Maybe I could change clothes halfway through in the loo.

[libellum.livejournal.com]

I'm very jealous of all these people with clothes-making skills. What is your ball dress like? I like the halfway-though transformation idea. Since it's your college, could you go to your room and get changed? OR would you have to bring both outfits and leave one in the cloakroom?

Maybe you could go to another ball? Or work at one, and wear the frock coat for your half off. I desperately want a frock coat of my own, but can't afford any new. I'm scouring charity shops in hope.

[the-lady-lily.livejournal.com]

You've given them *captions*!!

I still think the photos of me are pants, but there we go :)

[libellum.livejournal.com]

I'm sick and tired of your entertaining these ridiculous ideas that you aren't incredibly sexy. We shall discuss this later, missy. *looks stern*

[nightkitchen.livejournal.com]

you look hot, and the ball looks like it incredibly well-done ... I'm envious that there's nothing like this at my university. nor was there at my last university. maybe not to be found at any Canadian university. I mean, twenty rooms! fauns on stilts! massages! flavoured oxygen! a Kylie impersonator! NARNIA!

[libellum.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think regular balls of this lavishness are something of an Oxbridge phenomenon. I really want to take advantage of them all before I leave but they're so expensive, and I'm so poor ... I can't afford to go to a may ball this summer so I'm intending to work at several instead - they mostly have a half-on, half-off system where you aren't paid, but you work for four hours and have four hours to enjoy the ball for free, so you get the may ball experience without the expense :)

you look hot

thankyou! evidently I should drag more often ...

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

I love the suit! I mean, I love you in the suit. You look fabulous!

I went to my Year 11 formal in a DJ (aged 16), and I looked rather great if I do say so myself, although it freaked other people out, and provided part of the basis for lesbian rumours for the next year or so.

[libellum.livejournal.com]

Rah!! thankyou!!

Do you have any pictures of the you-in-a-DJ fiasco? Tch for lesbian rumours. I had them, but I also had a girlfriend for the first five years of secondary school life, so it's kind of excusable. If you're gonna be branded a lesbian, you may as well at least be getting regular hot girlsex.

I never went to a school thing in drag, but I did take a girl as my date for our leaver's ball. that was fun.

can I come and see you over easter? or we could meet up in leics/notts if that's easier and you don't want to host? I'd like to meet up for a drink and a chat though. and give you proper feedback on your novel, which I haven't had time to finish yet! (I keep wanting to, but work keeps getting in the way... end of term soon! I am clinging to it.) xxx

[maga-dogg.livejournal.com]

Damn, you do the impish rake thing well. I'd do ya.

[libellum.livejournal.com]

haha, you wish. are these your much-repressed homosexual impulses surfacing at last, sam m'dear? or is this just the product of too many years' subscription to that "chixx0rs with dixx0rs" magazine? I've sneaked a peek under your bed, you can't hide anything from me.

[wary.livejournal.com]

you look adorable in those pics. and a narnia ball? no fair I tell you.

[libellum.livejournal.com]

I KNOW! it's over and I'm still squeeing!

and thankyou! :)

[mirabehn.livejournal.com]

Ah, fabulous!! :)

You clearly looked utterly fantastic and gentlemanly, and as for the Narnia ball itself... *goggles*

I went to four balls in my time at Cambridge and *every year* it was pretty much the wrong one in terms of which I'd have enjoyed most. Never did manage to get to a fully-themed one, for instance.

Yay for your organising a jungle-themed formal hall for village in Indonesia btw. Just the kind of thing I thoroughly approve of. :)

[libellum.livejournal.com]

rah. we're clearly going to have to do a readthrough where both of us wear suits just for the gentlemanly goodness.

yes; I imagine it's quite easy to do, especially since it depends so much on who you go with. Jesus wasn't my first choice last year, but it was the one all my friends in Downing were going to. I suppose there's a lot more pressure for it to be perfect because of how much it costs, too. I can't afford a may ball this summer but I'm hopefully working at one - I have interviews for Trinity and Christs so far. I had an interview for Robinson as well today. but I didn't go. This is because they didn't give me a job as a wandering dec, and I'd have been so jealous of all the wandering decs I'd have been too jealous to enjoy my job as a barmaid. But that is because I am silly and proud.

The formal hall was fab. A grad student, Susan, works with a village called Minton whose island is a conservation area for rehabilitating gibbons into the wild who have been rescued from being kept as pets. They've been really helpful with the conservation work, and she wanted to do something for them, and when she asked what they said they needed a new roof on their self-built church but couldn't afford the materials. So we raised monde for them to finish building their church. It was very sweet. And everyone came in costume and everything!

hopefully I will have photos at some point, so shall write a proper post about it all :)

[solitarywalker.livejournal.com]

You look cute in the suit, though the jacket looks much too big, kind of surprised it was comfortable. Most of my clothes are too big for me; one of the reasons why i love my black cashmere overcoat so much is because it fits just right... it's the fit more than the material that makes it so comfortable.

Never heard of "going drag" being used to refer to a female dressing as a male. Interesting. Also odd that it made men feel uncomfortable; i seriously doubt it would have that kind of effect here.

i know nothing at all about dancing, but it is interesting that clothing has an effect on it like that... i wonder which came first... the male looks down/girl looks up bit i take to come from the typical "male should be taller than female" thing...

[libellum.livejournal.com]

It actually wasn't too big - the chest and sleeves were exactly right, it was just that the shoulders were too large. I suppose the shoulder problem would have been an issue however small hte jacket was, because although I have quite wide shoulders for a girl (I think it's a natural consequence of wide hips, which I also have), I'm still a girl. It felt completely comfortable, anyway.

I'm not sure why the men gave me dodgy looks. Maybe they thought I was preying on their territory? I suppose men have so little option for formal wear - they're all obliged to look pretty much the same - that they must feel quite defensive about it. if they have no choice, they're going to at least make it a male thing, you know? I'm just speculating though. Don't forget these were cambridge rugby boys rather than enlightened souls like yourself :)

as for the dancing - I think it's just a natural consequence of what looks good in certain styles of clothes. I dance differently in a long goth skirt and in hipster jeans, for example - just as great a difference as between either of those and a suit. It's not a gender divide, it's a dress divide. it just happens that certain genders usually wear certain clothes. As for the looking up/down thing - it's not about looking at each other, I mean girls put their arms in the air and look down and sideways, or they use their hands and look at their hands. Guys use their hands at waist height, not shoulder height, and usually palm down, so if you're looking at your arms that's going to be lower. Also girls dance with their eyes, whereas if a man is dancing with his feet it makes sense that he looks at the floor.

[ixwin.livejournal.com]

Oh, you look...

oooh

*thud*

(which, incidentally, I tend to interpret as meaning knocked speechless/senseless by the gorgeousness of something)

[libellum.livejournal.com]

ooh, yay. I'm not usually flattered this much by so many beautiful people. I should cross-dress more, obviously :)

(thankyou!) xxx

[doris.livejournal.com]

You look fabulous. The DJ really suits you.

It was always my ambition to go to the Royal Holloway Summer Ball in drag, but I was fat and ugly then and didn't have a decent dress. Oh well.

[libellum.livejournal.com]

ee! thankyou!

as for the summer ball in drag, now you're slim and svelte you'll just have to get yourself invited to an oxbridge ball sometime :)

xx

[papercrane.livejournal.com]

oh my gosssssh. that's amazing. i've never been to anything so elaborate! a NARNIA ball... goodness! and i love your top hat... and the FAUNS. gosh.

[mostlyacat.livejournal.com]

Eeh, I like your icon. :-)

[yvesilena.livejournal.com]

You look bloody gorgeous in those photos. Especially the one where you're taking your own photo in the mirror. :)

[libellum.livejournal.com]

WAAHH, thankyou :)

not as gorgeous as you in those photos you took in Downing though. Those are quite possibly my favourite male-impersonator pictures EVER.

[entangledbank.livejournal.com]

Blimey, I want a faun too, and I'm not a bit, y'know, fa*nos*x*al.

And Cambridge is so beautiful and all your regular photos of it in snow and in autumn make me ache so much, and then the transition from fauns to the White Witch's strange enchanted place almost made me cry. Upon the bournes of Faerie it can be savage and bitter and terribly, rendingly beautiful.

[libellum.livejournal.com]

everyone should have a faun. they could grin and look wicked and groom themselves and rub themselves on your legs ... no wait, that's cats. fa*nos*x*al, good word. faun rhymes with lots of interesting things. Like fawn. Fawning over fauns. I'm sorry, it's really too late for me to be allowed near a keyboard...

You're so going to have to come here. It IS beautiful. I only hope I get an mPhil place - I can't bear the thought of having to leave in a year.

[uisgebeatha.livejournal.com]

You look gorgeous in the DJ. Wish I was svelte enough to carry such a thing off...*mopes at podgy ugliness*

I'm more a trousers girl myself anyway, though I've never crossdressed. Sounds like fun though! Reading the multitude of comments really cheered me up and lifted my end of term lethargy, by the way. Especially the thread on [not] hiding certain things in your room...;)

[libellum.livejournal.com]

thankyou :) you are neither podgy nor ugly however, okay, so HUSH. *hugs*

you should cross-dress sometime. it's very liberating. also I'm glad you enjoy the comments - there are FAR too many. only good thing about it is when it gets above 50 they all become hidden so I can flirt outrageously with people and not be seen. Rah!

[sisuphos.livejournal.com]

I wore a dress once.

[libellum.livejournal.com]

kudos.

[secretxstar.livejournal.com]

Aww, that sounds like so much fun! I'm jealous!
I really like your icon picture.

[verte.livejournal.com]

You look gorgeous! The look really does suit you. You should cross-dress at least once at Whitby.

And I am never going to a university ball here, now I've seen the wonderful things you get! xx

[libellum.livejournal.com]

eep! If I can get hold of a frock coat by then, I shall try! thankyou though :)

I'm SO dragging you to a ball here at least once before I leave. xx