[Cynnabar] Terpsichore at the Tower XXV - Thank you!!

[Charles Cohen via Barony]

Terpsichore at the Tower XXV is over, and I’m so happy with how it went!
Almost 100 people attended, lots of fantastic classes, an amazingly
delicious lunch tavern, and a wonderful ball with live musicians!

This is a long thank you missive, and I will do my best to include all the
major players. My sincere apologies if I missed anyone. Also, though, there
were many people during setup on Friday, throughout the day on Saturday, in
the kitchen for the lunch tavern, and during cleanup in the evening, that
lended a hand and gave a ton of help. Chairs got moved around, banners hung
and taken down, floor swept, food prepared, dishes cleaned, on and on and
on. We have a great Barony, and also a fantastic SCA where people just make
sure things get taken care of!!

First and foremost, it is the tradition for this event to have one person
handle all the non-dance parts, while another coordinates everything to
with dance. This year it was Lord Alexander (Alex Tripp), and he was
amazing getting the call out to get all our wonderful teachers, putting
together the class list and schedule, organizing the ball, interfacing with
the musicians - basically, he handled all the dance stuff! Mistress Alina
(Elaine Cohen) was his assistant who greatly supported his efforts, and
both of them made sure that Terpsichore was the quality dance event it is
known to be.

I’m extremely grateful to Master Hideyasu (Charles Shefferly) for security
the event site for us. As an Event Steward, finding a good site is one of
the hardest tasks, and everything else comes from that choice. Knowing we
have it, and securing it early, makes everything far less stressful for me
and the group. It works so well because we have great classroom space that
then turns into a large open space for the ball! And that
kitchen...speaking of which...

In the years I’ve run Terpsichore, I’ve always had a concern about food.
Not just providing it, but also ensuring that it works well with the event.
This year, as usual for this site, we decided to simplify and not have an
evening feast. However, I wanted to limit the lunch time to an hour so we
could have more classes, which means providing food. Lady Ilse (Heidi
Lemon) - with her main assistants Baroness Hannah (Dawn Sinclair), lady
Jorun (Melissa Silsby), and Mistress Anthionette (Anthionette Martel) -
 stepped up and provided an amazing, delicious, and period lunch for
everyone there, with a full meal and a-la cart items. It was so good I had
seconds! She and her crew started before the event, were there on Friday
night, also provided coffee and beverages all day long, and were cleaned up
before the Ball. So good and well organized, too!!

Year after year Mistress Claire (Linda Duvall) handles gate. She was there
on Friday so people could register early, and she was there the entire time
gate was open on Saturday. She had help, but there were also times when it
was just her. She handles it incredibly well, and like so many other
volunteers for Terpsichore, once she agreed to do this I didn’t have to be
concerned about it at all.

Everyone knows how much I like Balls, and one of the aspects about the
Terpsichore evening ball that make it fantastic is that we have live
musicians. Master Aaron (Aaron Elkiss) was our Band Director, and his
musicians were wonderful! They were prepared before the event, took time
from classes to do some final practicing during the day, and allowed us to
have a very enjoyable ball in the evening! He also brought in equipment so
we could easily hear it throughout the hall. I also enjoy working with him
in the evening as the liaison between the dancers and the music, figuring
out on the fly what to keep and how to keep the pace going. I’m also a very
proud father, as my daughter was part of his music group!

Also, Master Aaron managed our website (based off the original design from
Meisterinne Genoveva (Jennifer Marx). Without hesitation and extremely
quickly he would update the website, especially with last minute requests
on information I forgot or slipped past me in the rush of things.

Year after year Lady Magdalena (Debora VanHeyningen) runs the Dessert
Revel. Not only is her signature cake eye popping and delicious  (a chest
full of coins and jewelry for the event’s silver anniversary!), but she
also beats the drum to get others to donate desserts. This year was no
exception - tons of food that people could go through more than once!

I’d also like to thank a couple of people who did additional work in the
background.

Lady Daeg (Daye) stores almost all of Cynnabar’s property, including our
banners, signs, tablecloths, and Gold Key. She worked with us so we could
pick it up before the event and drop it back off for storage afterwards!
This is service all year long, and so very important.

Mistress Jadwiga is Cynnabar’s Exchequer, and for events she handles so
much that many people just don’t know about. She personally helped me with
the budget and event proposal, makes sure gate has the correct forms
(signing in, waivers, minors, etc.) and seed cash for change. She handles
all the receipts and writes up the final financial report for the event.
That is a lot of work that I, as an event steward, just doesn’t have to
worry about, which allows me to focus on everything else!

Mistress Alina takes on the task of maintaining the Terpsichore at the
Tower Dance Book. She updates it every year, adds dances, fixes mistakes,
and then hosts and evening where people put it together. Master Aaron
ensures that the book gets printed. This book is used to support the
teaching of dance throughout the Known World. As the Baron and Baroness
said during the ball, there are many Kingdoms and people who have heard of
Cynnabar because of this instruction guide. For me, I think this is a
service to our community, and one of the best legacies of this event.

Our Baron and Baroness, Ermenrich and Kasha (Matthew Lagemann and Carol
Lagemann), supported this event the entire time. They helped to promote the
event in person and on social media, sent out invitations to Royalty, and
also just kept checking in to make sure we had everything we needed. They
worked with me to schedule a time for Court that worked best for the event
- supporting the Barony and our activities as always.

A special shout out to my dear friend Lord Kieran (Kevin Janka), who
started Terpsichore at the Tower with me 25 years ago as our first Dance
Coordinator. He and his family were able to make it this year, and it was
wonderful to share with him this silver anniversary.

And last, but definitely not least, I’d like to thank Lady Beth (Beth
Jeppesen) for being my deputy. She had my back the entire time. I
frequently went to her to sanity check stuff that was getting done. When
there were tasks here and there, she always said, “I’ll take care of that.”
She picked up and delivered all the stuff from storage. She managed setup
and cleanup. She helped out all day long. She went to stores to get items
that we needed. She got me a mocha. She got volunteers. She made Sir Jasen
(Jason Jeppesen) work during the entire event. She cleaned the tablecloths
the day after the event before returning them to storage! She was one of
the last ones to leave site.  She also went over with me how the two days
would go, making sure nothing was forgotten. I could not have done this
event without her.

Again, while this is a small event, there were so many people who helped
out - so many more that weren’t mentioned above - that make this event a
wonderful experience. I cannot thank you enough, and I am proud to have
been entrusted with running this event. Thank you Cynnabar and those
outside the group who also helped! All of you made this task easy and a
joy.


- Sir Midair, Event Steward
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