On August 9, the lodge was filled with color and motion for the Jane Austen dance, co-produced by True Fellowship #52 and the Bay Area English Regency Society (BAERS).
I, Alan Winston, am a Lodge member and a founder of BAERS, so am the crossover point for the two organizations. BAERS handled the band, caller (me) and program; True Fellowship managed the logistics, including providing the beautiful hall, selling advance tickets, providing and organizing very substantial refreshments. One of the previous balls brought the lodge some new members from among the attendees, who may be able to put together some other dance events there, helping the hall to ring, as it should, with music and happy laughter. This time we had a group of nine Scottish dancers who had not attended before, so we had some elegant coatee and kilt outfits. I’m a former Scottish dancer (retired due to injury) and was able to translate some of my prompts into things they were already familiar with. The Scots brought a new level of liveliness and precision in executing the dances, and they intend to return for future balls.
We capped sales at 70 tickets, sold them all (as we did at the two previous balls), and had only a couple of no shows, which left the room comfortably full. Three-quarters of the room had done this kind of thing before and any brand new dancers were swept up by the others. No lesson was required; I briefly taught each choreography as we came to it. I called without gender reference and made clear that anyone could dance with anyone else, and this meant that no-one had to sit out because of gender imbalance and let us make all comers welcome. Costumes were admired but not required, and people were welcome even in street clothes. Quite a lot of fun was had. The bustle of conversation in the dining hall during the two breaks made it clear that we were promoting conviviality and fellowship, and we made money for both the Odd Fellows and BAERS. The collaboration was again a splendid success, and we hope to repeat it twice next year, in February and again in August, and you’ll be very welcome to try it out!
— Alan Winston, True Fellowship 52