FAIRIE BALL BY

THEATRE UPON A

  STARDANCESWAN

FILLED THE PASEO GREEN

Dancers at the Faerie Ball. Photo c. by Nancy Condit

By Nancy Condit

A rolly polly baby with a shocking pink tutu around her middle, and tights stripped around her leg was held aloft by her mother as the green, filled with children, parents and friends of all ages, gathered and waited for the tenth annual Fairie Ball put on by Theatre Upon a StarDanceSwan on the Paseo Saturday, September 24^th.  The ball is part of the vision of artistic director Lorrie Keller.

One of StarDanceSwan's volunteers paint's a patient guest's face.  Photo c. by Nancy Condit

Adding to the ball are the face painting and flowers and greenery offered by volunteers. A snake of patient children of all ages waited to have their faces and arms adorned with painted flowers and vines and bees by one of several volunteers, Jeanne Flanigan. She laughingly recalled, “For the first time, after it got dark the parents lit the children’s cheeks with their cell phones so we could see to paint.”

Even the youngest came to the ball, appearing as their fance took them.  Photos c. by Nancy Condit

After the ball, a family with two small lady fairies, Addison, 7, and Taryn, 5, in her shopping basket ended up at Walmart for cookies.  The mother, Stephanie Heck, couldn’t wait to tell this writer, “Such a great thing, such a great activity for the community.”

The dancers came as unicorns, butterflies, a pied piper, fairies with enough calf length tulle to dress the cast of Swan Lake, and fanciful creatures like fairies, and beings of nature like bugs and butterflies as they were invited into the garden by Keller.

Black was this duo's choice.  They appear to have traveled from Polynesia.  Photo c. by Nancy Condit

 Two creatures, perhaps fairies, six or seven years old, a girl dressed in glittering black and a boy in the black of night and a very colorful lei – they probably came from the Western Islands -- stood side by side for the photographer.

One terribly proud father introduced his blond haired son, “He’s a newt,” – dressed in a checked shirt, khaki shorts, cowboy hat and cowboy boots, carrying a newt-sized trumpet.  His mother carried the camera.

Two very thirsty raven haired fairies – one posed for the camera while the other continued to bury her face in her glass, nectar from the single street vendor, attended from the Far East, one clad in lavender and the other in blue tulle.

Theatre Upon a StarDanceSwan Troup performs at the Faerie Ball's beginning.  Photo c. by Nancy Condit 

After a delicate dance by the Theatre Upon a StarDanceSwan dance troupe around a high moon with ribbons for dancing hanging to the ground, to music by Steve Linn of Ojas, the children came to the ball themselves.  Linn continued to play his free form music for the ball.  The dance green was lit by spotlights of various shades of pinks and yellows.  Elizabeth Muller was another artistic for the ball.

Many of the invited dancers chose to dance alone – twirling, running, and balancing on tiptoe in lovely curves over the green grass. Keller described two boys as really rockin’ as soon as the music started. The piper danced to his own merry tune.  A changing group dancers circled, singing “Ashes, ashes, all fall down,” while young adolescent girls put their heads together, planning their circle dance.

All of the dancers were certain about what they wanted to do, whether it was instinctive or planned, by themselves or in circles.   

The ball ended gently as the dancers and audience withdrew into the night, until next year. 

c. Nancy Condit