The English Majors and Minors Association, the Undergraduate Historical Society, and the UA Museum Club will host a Regency ball 7-10 p.m. on April 12 at Smith Hall.
The ball will feature food, a lesson on waltz and swing from ballroom dancing instructors, and open dancing.
“The event is inspired by ‘Bridgerton,’ Jane Austen type social events, but we’re putting more of a modern twist on it because we’re college students,” said Mo Edwards, a junior majoring in accounting and the president of EMMA.
Lauren Hudson, a junior majoring in history and the president of the Undergraduate Historical Society, said the decorating is meant to reflect the Regency era, or the period between 1811 and 1820 in England that serves as a common literary setting, as much as possible.
“We tried our very best to have the food, decor and dancing, and even music [of the era],” Hudson said.
Edwards said there is a dress code for attendees: floor-length dresses, tuxedos or suits. She said tickets are $7 online and $10 at the door, and UA students can bring a guest, but all attendees must be 18 or older.
“Pretty much all of our money and the ticket sales are going into hosting the event because we were able to get the money, yes, but it wasn’t able to cover all the costs,” Edwards said.
The idea began with the Undergraduate Historical Society but soon evolved into a collaboration between the three organizations, marking the first time they have worked together.
“It’s definitely a new endeavor with a little bit of learning curve, but we’re excited about it,” Edwards said.
Some of the inspiration for the decorations came from UA museums.
“We have some access to the Museum of Natural History. I got their collections of tablecloths and that kind of thing,” said Bennett Ogle, a graduate student in quantitative economics and museum studies and the president of the Museum Club. “We kind of built it off from there, but [we’re] really going for … that garden-wedding, English-summer-springtime theme, you know, for the Regency era.”
Ogle said he’s excited to use his museum background to help students engage with history.
“This is an opportunity to see what I think is really important with UA Museum Club,” Ogle said. “Museum spaces are a whole lot more than just stagnant objects. They really are spaces the public can come and engage with however they want.”
