SCA @ UVa

This weekend was full of fun SCA activities. On Saturday Ben and I went to Journey to the Crusades hosted by Caer Gelynniog. It was a very enjoyable event and also a busy one for me. I authorized in both heavy rapier and epee. Now I can do rapier activities at events. Now to just get a fencing tunic done so I can look more period stylish too. ;)

Also at JTTC I tried my hand at thrown weapons (spears, axes, knives). Turns out that I either have some skill or good beginner's luck because I placed second in the thrown weapons competition. Really, I was just happy to have anything stick in the target.

Some of the UVA students did quite well too. Dan & Karen authorized in rapier, Charles authorized in heavy and he took first in the thrown weapons. Congrats to them and go Isenfir!

Beyond the things we did at JTTC, there was just the enjoyable atmosphere of the place. It was a beautiful site, lots of room, and plenty of shade (though perhaps not enough for some). There was no indoor space but there was electricity so we enjoyed a great feast that evening. No matter how many delicious feasts I go to, I always end up eating too much in the early courses and never having quite enough room by the end. Luckily it was a nice long feast so it mostly had time to settle before dancing. That being said, we started with all the slow dances first.

Yesterday we had pretty good turnout for the first of the two sewing workshops. We got a few t-tunics started, a few doublets started, a chemise, and lots of good socialization. Between handcrafters this Wednesday and another sewing workshop next Sunday some of these items are going to be completed or very close. Hopefully when the items get done we'll have some pictures of the spiffy new threads to share.

Isenfir (our local group) hosted the spring Crown tournament where the next royalty of Atlantia are chosen. Brie & I were the only students able to make it to it largely because finals are currently happening. So below is my view on the day.

We got there quite early because I had volunteered to help at Troll (place where everyone checks in). It was an interesting experience seeing almost everyone in normal clothes and then seeing them again later once they were in garb.

I caught just a brief portion of the fighting but in that time I did get to see Sir Corby fight twice.

Most of my time was spent catching up with various folks and just taking everything in. The garb, the pagentry, a little arts & science display, and trying to remember peoples' names that I'm sure I've met before.

The Atlantian University is coming up in a few months so the class proposals are being submitted now. In hopes for us to get a full dance track happening I have volunteered to teach two. Below are the descriptions (in case you were curious).

"Dances for any number"
Dance is Fun so we try to include everyone during dance practices and events, yet what happens if your dance calls for 3 couples but there is one more couple left out? In this session we will learn dances and variations that allow additional couples to dance. Additional variations and conversations are welcomed and encouraged. Dances will tend to be English Country Dances. No previous dance experience necessary.

"Flirt or Fight: Expressing yourself through movimenti in dance"
Flirt with your love interest... Have a public spat... All in a few short counts. This session will focus on the expressive power of small, improvised movements in dance (movimenti). The dance we will be doing is Rostiboli Gioioso (a 15th Century Italian Dance)

Last night was the Spring Dance & Dessert revel. As has been done in the past, it was an in garb dance. There was lots of good food, fair amount of dancing, and lots of silliness/fun. The large amount of space in the Newcomb Hall Ballroom makes some of the dances such as Petite Riens a lot of fun.

Mistress Thjora was kind enough to take many pictures with my camera which will be loaded to a flickr page in the next day or two.

On the downside, a handful of us went to the College Inn afterwards and that was much less enjoyable. They had a live jazz band playing. While this might be a good idea in theory, it did not work for that small of a restaurant. It made it incredibly hard to hear anything and we were at the far end of the restaurant. Plus the parking situation was not great because of a concert in the satelitte ballroom. Oh well.

On Wednesday I did 3 of the 4 dances of the apocalypse with Pappa (Landi). We did SCA Road to the Isles, Hole in the wall, and Female Saylor (Thanks to David for calling that one). These are all fun but they are either non-documentable (SCA Road to the Isles is an SCA creation) or way out of period. Just for reference Korobushka is the 4th. Though, I did get an email from Pappa yesterday and he said that Female Saylor isn't actually a dance of the apocalypse but rather "Strip the Willow" is. Given that he can't recall Isenfir ever doing that one, I think we'll stick with Female Saylor being the 4th for local tradition.

On a more personal note, I feel like I'm getting better at calling and teaching dances. If needed I can certainly be dance mistress for the evening but I know I still have room to improve. For instance, I had a bit of a difficulty teaching and calling "Picking of Sticks". Though I am getting to the point where I can teach more than half the dances without referring to the notes. Next step... memorize the rest of the book and learn more of the history for the dances. :)

This Sunday a whole bunch of us went out to Corby & Thjora's for 4th Sundays where we could do archery, thrown weapons, projects, and eat. That was the plan atleast, the rain and the cold prevented the archery but some thrown weapons did happen. Sewing definitely happened (too bad the pictures of Charles with the super tight, bright red pants didn't turn out). A fair amount of leather work was also going on, but since I was not directly involved hopefully those who were could write a little something about it (hint hint).

In addition, we got really close and got to know each other better... in the cars. We fit 5 people in my car and 3 people in Bubba's truck. It was a really tight fit all around, though I heard the fit in the truck was much more amusing because they got to hold things like the arrows on their laps.

Thanks to Thjora, I now have a bodice pattern for my Elisabethan garb. Ideally this will be used for the dance component of KASF, but it's kinda questionable if it will all get done in time given school deadlines. Though in the end, I will eventually make the E garb one way or another.

(This is also a test for cross-posting to LJ) ;)