DRA Ball Reviewed

Friday night saw Kinkell Byre transformed into A Midsummer Night’s Dream wonderland for one of the most eagerly anticipated of St Andrew’s hall events – the DRA ball. With 1.6k attending on the Facebook event beforehand, it promised to be a big one, and, considering that there is still barely any human life visible outside here in DRA as I write this the day after, it looks like the event delivered.

Coaches took guests over to Kinkell Byre on staggered trips between 9-11pm, and the departure from our usual 3-street comfort zone ramped up excitement from the get-go. The coaches were packed with DRA as well as non-DRA guests, and not all freshers by any means, either – the word about the ball had really got round. People impressively committed to pushing the boat out outfits-wise with the Midsummer Night’s Dream theme: highlights included a floor-length red light-up dress (I kid you not, it was fully rigged with LEDs) and a lot of impressive flower wreath/general vegetation headgear all round.

The first thing we were faced with on arrival was a giant supply of free cocktails. (‘I had…four?!’ my friend is messaging me from her bed right now, in a tone of strangled pain and wonderment). The venue looked incredible; the committee had definitely nailed the decorations. Blue and green streamers fluttered everywhere, and the classic Kinkell fairy lights fitted right in with the ‘enchanted’ theme. The biggest talking point though, was ‘that awesome tree in the shisha room;’ sparkling all over with lights like some kind of magical February Christmas tree, it was an undisputed crowning glory, as well as a handy rendezvous in the packed venue. I’ve got at least three texts from last night reading progressively less comprehensible variations of ‘i’Ll meet u by trree’.

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The multi-coloured flower garlands that were somehow distributed on the dance floor, and the very popular glitter tattoo booth, added to the success of the theme. The bar was easily accessible and efficient, and a free Janetta’s ice cream stand seemed to be on the verge of inspiring actual tears of drunken happiness in some people by the end of the night. A convenient Blackhorn stall near the bar also proved very popular – all in all, DRA ball managed to have every possible random whim provided for, from food to temporary tattoos to life-sized sparkling trees.

On the music front, the night saw a wide range of performances, in the hope of catering to everyone’s tastes. There were performances from The Other Guys, DJ Saunit, John Doe Etc, and finally (‘all the way from London’, apparently) Beat a Maxx. By and large they seem to have gone down well -exhibit A, for instance – ‘last night’s dancing was the most intense workout I’ve had all semester.’ Any doubts about Beat a Maxx seem to usually be concluded by a comment like ‘to be fair though, then he dropped Sean Paul. Can’t argue with that.’ Wise words. Ultimately, the music kept the dance floor consistently packed with guests all night.

So altogether, as the especially golden Yik Yak aftermath is now reaffirming, the DRA ball was overall a triumph. (Shout out to the person who added their mum to their after party snapchat story!) It was imaginatively themed, well organised, and well attended. Well done DRA – see you next year!