Christmas Ball – How the Mermaids Theatre Foundation Brings Christmas Cheer
By Karin Sofia Johansson
For any student that is into the festive cheer of the upcoming holidays, Christmas Ball is the one to be at. For one night at the beginning of December of each year, the Mermaids Theatre Foundation transforms Kinkell Byre into a fantasy land of Christmas wonder. This year’s rendition didn’t disappoint. From the excited chatter at the musical theatre society Just So’s pre-event and the packed buses delivered ball goers to the warm, to the fairly lit atmosphere of Kinkell Byre with its live music, customary chocolate fountains and Christmas trees hanging from the ceiling. What many of the attendees don’t know, however, is the amount of work that goes into the process of getting this sparkly Christmas monster of a ball up and running. The team behind the ball has been working for months to put together a night to remember.
Ball Convener Mary Olan answered some questions about the hectic process of bringing the magic of Christmas Ball to life:
Where does the process of creating Christmas Ball start?
It’s a very long process that involves a lot of people! I’d say it starts towards the end of 2nd semester (the year before) with the new Christmas Ball Convener, but things get even more hectic when the 1st semester starts. The first step is choosing your committee and it’s a busy schedule from there – although very intense, it’s been really fun!
This year's theme was Christmas Around the World, how do you go about picking the theme?
We wanted to really highlight Christmas and the festive cheer so we thought the best way of doing this was looking at Christmas through different countries!
How many people are involved in the process of arranging Christmas Ball?
Our executive committee is composed of 8 people, but we have 4 sub-committees with around 10-12 people each. But there are way more people than that as we also get help from Mermaids Committee and Union staff, not to mention our contractors as well who help us make the ball into reality.
Not everyone knows that Christmas Ball is arranged by Mermaids Performing Arts Fund, is there anything that makes Christmas Ball more theatrical or performative than your regular St Andrews ball?
I wouldn’t say that it’s much different from a regular St Andrews ball – what makes it really unique is the festive cheer and the fact that you can “escape” from your deadlines and revision for a day before revision week starts. One thing to note is that this ball also helps bring groups to the Fringe!
What is the best thing about arranging Christmas Ball?
Seeing it all come together and the friendships made with executive and subcommittee members - there’s something about getting close to people whilst you all stress out together haha!
What has been most challenging throughout the process?
There are so many things in the checklist so getting all of them checked and making sure you don’t miss out on anything is super challenging!
Why did you get involved with Christmas Ball? Has the process been as you expected?
I was part of the Executive Committee last year and enjoyed it so much so I wanted to be involved with Christmas Ball on my last year. I also just really love Christmas! I was warned that it gets really hectic and stressful, and it’s been exactly just that!
Every year the Kinkell Byre is transformed to whichever winter wonderland is the theme for that years ball, how long before the ball does the work on setting it up start? What is it like to set up a space like that and who is in charge of making sure everything is ready and looks right for the night?
Believe it or not, set up only really happens on the day of the ball. It gets really hectic as there are so many things that have to go in and be set up and we only get to do that on the morning of the ball. The Christmas Ball Convener, Assistant Ball Convener for Logistics, and Assistant Ball Convener for Creative Art all in charge on the day to make sure that everything is ready to go for the night. We just really wanted everyone to have fun with all their friends and celebrate the festive cheer before we all get stressed out with exams!