Classical Cabaret event a chance to don masks,

live the high life

Ever since I studied abroad in Vienna during my junior year of college, I’ve dreamed of attending the Imperial Ball at the Hofburg Palace.

While the United States has rather gauche pastimes such as football and baseball season, Vienna has ball season, beginning with a New Year’s spectacular and culminating with the Vienna Opera Ball right before Ash Wednesday.

At these high-society events, women wear elbow-length gloves and tiaras, men don top hats and tails, and champagne flows freely as revelers waltz, foxtrot and quickstep to the music of the Vienna State Opera and the famed Vienna Boys’ Choir.

While I’m determined to rub elbows with Austria’s elite, I realize this dream will likely have to wait several years. Fortunately, this weekend I got a taste of the ball tradition at the Corvallis Youth Symphony Association’s Classical Cabaret. And not only was this an elegant dance, but it was also a masked affair!

While the CH2M Hill Alumni Center never housed the Habsburg dynasty, it did take on a rather regal look last Saturday as almost 400 people turned out to support CYSA and have a grand evening.

Black tie affairs are few and far between in today’s world, especially in small towns. It’s rare to get a chance to really dress up, so my coworker Theresa Hogue and I decided to go all out.

While getting ready for my first masquerade, I felt like a cross between an 8-year-old girl playing dress up and a high school junior prepping for prom.

Actually, now that I think about it, I believe the full-length black velvet BCBG gown with spaghetti straps that I wore last weekend actually was one of my old prom dresses. So, kids, if your parents tell you that spending a lot of money on a dress for a school dance is silly because you’ll only wear it once, clip this column out and show it to them as proof that prom dresses can still come in handy nine years after the fact.

Theresa looked just beautiful in a green sleeveless chiffon dress, with her hair delicately curled into soft ringlets. She topped it all off with a blue velvet hooded cloak.

A few years ago she bought a box of masks on eBay that she’d never gotten to use, so the cabaret was the perfect chance to pull them out of the attic.

She wore a blue, green and gold feathered mask accented with peacock feathers, and she loaned me a pinkish purple mask that matched my pashmina.

We had to park in the Reser Stadium lot, and we got some stares walking to the ball. One guy even stopped to ask us where we were going and why we were dressed like very fancy Vegas showgirls (well, he didn’t say that last part, but I could tell that was what he was thinking).

As we entered the ballroom, the Corvallis Youth Symphony began playing a Viennese Waltz, and couples glided around the floor.

OSU dance instructor Barbara Platt was on hand to teach a simple waltz. I took about 10 weeks of classes from Platt at Timberhill Athletic Club a couple years ago. She’s a fantastic teacher, and having her there really added a lot to the gala.

The event was catered by Oregon State University. Theresa and I partook of a delicious dessert bar with cakes and tarts served up on square plates drizzled artistically with chocolate and fruit sauces.

After enjoying my slice of marble cake with vanilla and chocolate mousse filling, I again turned my attention to the dance floor, where the music had shifted from classical to Gershwin and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

CYS played most of the “Phantom of the Opera” score, including the very appropriate “Masquerade.” At one point, a man dressed as the Phantom, complete with a cape and white mask, swooped into the room and ran around getting the crowd enthused. He helped stir up bids for the chance to conduct a song. The man who won the honors did CYS director Charles Creighton proud.

Theresa and I spent a lot of time wandering the lobby looking at masks created by local artists. The masks were part of a silent auction raising additional funds for CYSA.

Theresa bid on and won a beautiful flame mask created by student Alex Snell.

When we returned to the ballroom, the Hilltop Big Band had given CYS a reprieve. I wasn’t familiar with this group prior to last weekend, but the instrumentalists and vocalists were some of the best I’ve heard perform at a community event or private party.

As I watched couples and friends dance, I felt a twinge of sadness that my boyfriend wasn’t there. If he had been I surely would have dragged him against his will onto the dance floor.

Theresa was also sans her boyfriend that night. We were having a lady date. We could have danced together if we wanted to — plenty of women were twirling with friends or grooving in large groups — but we decided it was more fun looking at all the pretty masks and fashion in the room.

There were a fair number of high school students there, and some of the young women were wearing stunning dresses. I have no idea where they bought them and had to restrain myself from going up and asking.

We even saw one girl wearing a minidress with a bubble skirt, a trend we didn’t realize people other than actresses, pop stars and heiresses observed. It was exciting to see this look jump out of the pages of fashion magazines and appear before our very eyes.

Although the ball technically ended at 11:30 p.m., 10:30 was pumpkin time for Theresa and me.

All in all, the night was a huge success. Theresa and I got to have a fun, glamorous night out, we wore fabulous masks and CYSA volunteers say the organization likely raised enough money to finish its 2006-07 season in the black.

I still hope to return to Austria and attend a real Viennese ball, but my recent elegant evening in Corvallis will help tide me over until that day comes.

Mary Ann Albright can be reached at 758-9518 or maryann.albright@lee.net.