Having a ball
When I think of an Oxford college ball, I think of lots of students in black tie dancing, drinking and laughing, crowding into marquees against the quintessentially Oxford background of quads and gardens. The ball is an Oxford tradition and to those outside the bubble, it is one of those experiences, along with Pimms, sub fusc, and the boat race that is inherently associated with Oxbridge life.
My own first experience of Oxford was at sixteen, when my friend’s sister took us to the summer ball at her college. I was in awe at girls in beautiful evening gowns, the gorgeous men in black tie, and the rather incongruous picture of a couple in particularly glamorous attire sitting in a dodgem car, kissing. Reading the recent Oxford media coverage however, this is the last image that springs to mind.
Amidst a confusion of alleged drug-taking, hospitalisation and a minor flood, the newspapers are busy revelling in the ins and outs of financial mistakes, screw-ups with the college authorities and failed advertising. I realise that ‘Ball a Complete Success’, isn’t the most sensationalist of headlines but I can’t help but think that coverage of the balls has descended into cynicism.
Of course, cynicism is endemic among the brand of neurotic work-addicted over-achievers who study in the shadow of the dreaming spires. It is also a trait commonly associated with journalism, so surely an Oxford reporter is bound to take cynicism to a new extreme, but there is a time and a place for everything, and cynicism has no place at a college ball. Cynical and profit-obsessed as the commentary was, it must have some foundation.
Talking to members of various ball committees I discovered that the students responsible for organising these events are under immense pressure to make the figures add up. Laura Bunt, President of the Wadham ball committee, said her college is terrified of a big loss, and that although a ball is not a money-making enterprise per se, it is vital that they don’t end up in the red. Creating the perfect ball, it seems, is something of an art.
The key, according to Laura, is varied entertainment, though there must also be a climactic focal point to bring everyone together and create the excitement of a shared experience, often around midnight. Although balls are not aimed at making a profit, money is important as a means to an end. The real tragedy of financial mistakes is that the quality of the entertainment will suffer. The problem is that some balls are run by people with little experience of financial management.
Part of the fine art of creating the optimum ball experience is a good sense of what people enjoy. This means prioritising opulent treats like a champagne reception. Giving guests things they would not normally get justifies the ticket price, and touches such as making sure that champagne will be available to everyone are a must.
Another central aspect of the ball phenomenon is the unique opportunity it provides for a college to come together and pool its collective talents to create a great spectacle. Aball simply is a real college effort, providing a common aim that unites the student body in an exercise to produce something worthy of college pride. Living in an Oxford college is an extraordinary experience that no-one can comprehend without having lived through it.
Feeling part of a close-knit community, steeped in such a rich history and tradition, is a great privilege, and this is what lends the night of a college ball its own particular poignancy. Exhilarating and stimulating as Oxford can be, undergraduate life seems to slip away so fast, and suddenly pidges are stuffed with career prospectuses, and ‘life after finals’ is no longer a distant notion but an imminent reality.
The transient nature of college life means that the moment of a ball should be savoured. Admittedly, I am not on my college ball committee, so I can only imagine the frustration suffered by those having to liaise with college authorities, tirelessly promote tickets and organise entertainment.
However, when I think of my own ball, I imagine all my friends together, against the beautiful surroundings of our central quad, dancing to Brian Adams’s ‘Summer of ‘69’ as the bells ring for midnight, and simply cannot wait.
19th May 2005