Floating candles danced in the air over the heads of this year’s attendees on the night of Dec. 13 for the 6th annual Yule Ball. While the rest of their muggle friends were left with the worries of finals, the witches and wizards who attended the ball were instead whisked into a magical night filled with Butterbeer, robes, cauldrons and dancing.
That night, Alumni Hall was transformed into the Great Hall of Hogwarts through the use of cauldrons, fairy lights and Hogwarts’ house banners: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin.
The people that filled the room also added to the magical aura. Some simply wore dresses in different house colors while others adorned themselves in Hogwarts robes and carried a wand or wore elf ears and flower crowns.
Two Union Board members dressed up as Harry and Ron, talked in British accents and rode on their brooms for the evening’s duration.
There were also performances from the a capella group Resting Pitch Face, the band So ‘n’ So’s and the Ballroom Dance Club.
The Ballroom Dance Club has been invited multiple times to the Yule Ball,and they consistently produce material that fits the Harry Potter theme, Union Board graduate advisor Alexis Fuentes said.
“They have songs from Harry Potter included in their performances,” Fuentes said. “This year, they color-coordinated some of their outfits to match all the house colors.”
In the Solarium, vendors sold various Harry Potter goods, such as magnets, wands and charm bracelets, in exchange for golden galleons (dollars) and silver Sickles (change). There also was a stuff-an-owl station where attendees could grab either an owl, snake, badger, lion or bird to fill with stuffing and decorate with a scarf.
The Tudor Room was where the real magic happened. Magician and mentalist Matt The Knife performed two mini shows there.
In one of his tricks, he used laminated paper to communicate with an audience member. At one point he showed the member a paper that had a picture of multiple playing cards fanned out and asked her to remember just one. He then proceeded to guess it was a black suited, high card. I knew that, one paper read.
He then reminded the audience he had not opened his mouth once during the performance and promptly spat out and reveled a card.
“You said king?” he asked his participant. “Of spades?”
“Yes.”
“Hell yeah, you did.”
Matt unfolded the card before the audience to a series of applause and gasps.
Those in the Tudor Room were also helped themselves to Harry Potter themed food and drink, including Butterbeer.
The night ended with two hours of dancing under the floating lights. Then, the clock struck one and the wondrous world of Harry Potter came to a close.
It was time to go back into the muggle world.
