The Circus comes to St Andrews

“I can’t say whether a unicorn will appear at the ball or not. Do I think that the Big Top Ball is going to be great and might attract mythical animals? Yes. Anything could happen.” Fourth years and co-directors Eleanor Newman and Robert Sturrock, clown around with The Stand to discuss the upcoming Big Top Ball.

What is the premise of the ball? Did you shoot around a bunch of ideas in terms of themes?

Robert: St Andrews is a great place which allows students the freedom to put on new events and try new things. So last April, when I first thought of putting on a ball, I talked to Eleanor about it. We pushed around ideas of having a ball in the secret bunker or doing something with Carnevale, and then Eleanor came up with the circus theme.

Eleanor: When we figured out that we could get a big top tent, it really came together.

Robert: We thought that there was an opening for a ball like this…cheap and affordable, but still a great experience.

How have you found the whole ball-planning experience?

Eleanor: It has been stressful, but to be honest, I have been told about 20 times that we are the most organised ball that people have ever worked with, which is quite nice.

Robert: We try to stay on top of it — it has definitely taught me a lot about organisation. It’s less stressful now than it was before. Once everything started to fall into place, we realised that it was developing from our idea to something that was actually going to happen. The hardest part is just keeping faith throughout the whole process that everything is going to work out.

Give us a quick rundown of what the ball is going to look like.

Eleanor: There’s going to be a big circus tent that the DJ and the bar is going to be in, which is where all the seating will be.

Robert: That’s going to be the main area. It’s where all of the dancing is going to happen, all of the light shows, etc. 

Eleanor: Yes, so then we have two smaller tents. One will have all of the food — so candy floss and popcorn and the like — and the other tent will have the circus games.

Robert: Yes, and there is even talk of there being a quite large prize for whoever gets the most points by winning the most circus games. Someone could walk into Big Top Ball and walk out with a Nintendo Wii or something … 

What is the music going to be like? Who is DJing?

Eleanor: We’ve got a couple of acapella groups performing — the Alleycats and the Accidentals will be there. We’ve also got Black Sheep doing a live set for us, which will be really nice. Then we’ve got Tom Burns and his crew doing a DJ set for us. There should be a sample set of music going on our Facebook page in the next couple of days.

Obviously when you go to different balls, there are different dress codes. What would your fashion recommendations be for people going to the ball?

Eleanor: First off, we have a Pinterest, and we’ve got several ideas on that. We also have the photo shoot to give you some idea — I mean, some of the photos are quite racy, and we wouldn’t necessarily encourage nudity —

Robert: — actually, we’d like to strongly discourage large quantities of nudity.

Eleanor: We’re going with black tie with a circus twist. The circus theme really gives you a lot of opportunity to play with sparkles and feathers and the like. 

What are you going to be wearing?

Robert: I don’t know what I am going to be wearing. I haven’t really thought about it, but it will be amazing — shocking, some will say. I know that one of my flatmate’s friends has said that he has bought a leopard print suit for the occasion.

So we’ve heard some rumours. There’s talk flying about the presence of elephants and unicorns and fire breathers. Can you confirm or deny these claims?

Robert: Eleanor has strictly informed me that under no circumstances am I allowed to answer these sort of questions. But you can infer from my eyes what ever you like. (note: his eyes said yes.) 

Eleanor: What I can confirm is that there will be some form of fire. Whether it be fire koi or fire eating … get ready for it.

Robert: There was talk of creating a petting zoo by catching all of the rabbits on Andrew Melville lawn, but there are some ethical boundaries there that we can’t cross.

Big Top Ball benefits the St Andrews Charities Campaign, and will be held on Lower College Lawn on April 13th. Tickets are £25 and will be sold opposite from the Union, from 11 – 2 on March 7th. The directors would like to heavily dispel the rumours that the ball is sold out — that is not the case, and there are plenty of tickets left to be scooped up.

image courtesy of Eleanor Newman and the Big Top Ball