May Ball in Cambridge
A May Ball is a
History
The tradition of May Balls in Cambridge started in the 1830s with the first official one being the
By the 1890s, King's and Clare were holding regular balls, and the first St Catharine's Ball dates from 1929.[5] As the 20th century progressed the formula of the balls varied very little until the 1960s, when students began to question both the cost and perceived stuffiness. Around this time, some colleges began to augment the traditional dance orchestras with rock bands, and by the end of the 1970s the focus of the majority had shifted towards booking rock acts.[5]
As the all-male colleges began to allow female students, the ubiquitous double tickets began to be bought by pairs of students rather than inviting a date from outside of the university, causing a corresponding reduction in ticket sales; in 1991 Sidney Sussex and Downing merged balls, and in 1992 Pembroke cancelled its ball. When in 1993 there were a reported 16,000 tickets available to an undergraduate population of 10,000, Selwyn, Emmanuel, Girton and Peterhouse were all forced to cancel their balls, though Trinity and Magdalene sold out as usual.[5] The solution was for most of the smaller balls to hold events every other year, and by the 2000s only Trinity, St John's, Clare, and Jesus were still holding annual May Balls.
They fell out of popularity with the students in the 1990s,[6] but this trend has since reversed and tickets now sell out in record time. Local businesses also now seek to get involved and the local punting companies put on special night-time tours to allow people to watch the John's and Trinity College firework displays on the Backs from the River Cam - the river usually becomes gridlocked for these evenings during May Week.
Colleges hosting balls
Many Cambridge colleges originally held the balls in May, sometimes in the week preceding year-end exams. Today, they take place in
The
Annual balls are held by Clare,
hold May Balls every two years.Most balls have fundamental similarities: all will offer guests a variety of food, entertainment, and a selection of alcoholic drinks. The quality and diversity of all of these vary markedly between different balls. While all claim to offer luxury (and many deliver), some have distinctive hallmarks: Peterhouse is famed for its ferris wheel, Magdalene for its dining, Trinity for its exceptional fireworks and flame display, Clare for its entertainment lineup and St John's for its party atmosphere. Often the balls have overarching themes, sometimes they are fancy dress.
Ball entertainment is a closely guarded secret, not least because of the fear that other committees will 'free ride' by booking an act already booked at another ball and thus have to pay a reduced fee because the band is in Cambridge already, whilst simultaneously devaluing the 'get' by the initial contractor. This was seen in 2010 when Two Door Cinema Club performed at four separate balls. Partly for this reason, ball line-ups are not usually announced until the night of the ball, although they tend to leak out fairly early.
Ball crashing
Colleges with larger May balls pay considerable attention to security and the prevention of
As part of the security arrangements, students living in parts of the college and not attending the May Ball are often required either to vacate[8] their rooms or remain in them without leaving overnight, in spite of the inevitable loud music.
Alternatives
Several colleges host a variation on these balls, a June Event. These are cheaper (£60-90), tend to be focused on live music, and frequently have less formal dress codes. Some colleges alternate June events and May balls from year to year. Trinity Hall, Newnham and Wolfson hold June events. In 2018 Wolfson held a May Ball instead. In 2023, Darwin College was the first college at Cambridge to host a vegan ball.[9]
King's holds an annual event known as the "King's Affair" — like the June events it is cheaper and has a reputation for "Beats not Bollinger"; guests are invited to wear any costume they choose. With several different music stages focusing mainly on new DJs, the atmosphere is perhaps more akin to some festivals. The college used to hold a traditional May Ball, but this was banned by the local police after The Stranglers played in the 1970s and caused a crush.[10]
In order to spread the fun throughout the year, a number of colleges have broken with tradition to hold balls at different times, normally either in the winter at the end of Michaelmas term, i.e. the beginning of December, or in spring at the end of Lent term. Selwyn is the only college to hold a yearly winter ball, known as the Snowball; in 2008 Selwyn also held a May Ball to celebrate its 125th Birthday and did so again in 2015 and 2017. Cambridge University Law Society also holds a well-regarded yearly winter ball. Fitzwilliam holds winter balls every two years, the most recent being November 2018. Of the spring balls, that of Girton is held biennially at the end of Lent term in March, whereas Churchill continues to produce an annual ball in the middle of Lent term every February.
See also
- Commemoration ball - similar summer balls at the University of Oxford
References
- ^ "Which May Ball". Which May Ball. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ "Revealed: May Ball and June Event budgets show striking disparities". Varsity. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ "St. Catharine's College May Ball, 1929" (PDF). St Catharine's College, Cambridge. Retrieved 15 July 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Trinity May Ball - A brief history". First and Third Trinity Boat Club May Ball. Archived from the original on 5 September 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
- ^ a b c d "We had a Ball" - William Ham Bevan. Cambridge Alumni Magazine, Issue 72 (Easter 2014)
- ^ Macdonald, Marianne (13 June 1993). "May Balls lose their shine: A glamorous Oxbridge tradition is suddenly in decline. Marianne MacDonald goes in search of the reasons - UK - News". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
- ^ Hall, Melanie (24 June 2013). "Gang of non-students gatecrashed Oxbridge balls". Telegraph. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
- ^ "Graduate Union Forum - Magdalene". Cambridge University Graduate Union. 10 June 2005. Archived from the original on 2 January 2006. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
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- ^ "May Week: balls, boats and bubbly". Archive of the Month: July 2011. King's College Cambridge. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
External links
Cambridge May Balls & June Events
- Christ's May Ball
- Churchill May Ball
- Clare May Ball
- Clare Hall June Event
- Clare Hall May Ball
- Corpus Christi May Ball
- Darwin May Ball
- Downing May Ball
- Emmanuel May Ball Archived 23 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- Fitzwilliam Winter Ball
- Girton Spring Ball
- Gonville and Caius May Ball
- Homerton May Ball
- Hughes Hall May Ball
- Jesus May Ball
- The King's Affair
- Magdalene May Ball
- Newnham June Event
- Pembroke May Ball
- Peterhouse May Ball
- Queens' May Ball
- Robinson May Ball
- St Catharine's May Ball
- St Edmund's May Ball
- St John's May Ball
- Selwyn May Ball
- Selwyn Snowball
- Sidney Sussex May Ball
- Trinity May Ball (article)
- Trinity Hall June Event
- Wolfson June Event
- Wolfson May Ball
- Cambridge Union Society June Fling