Putting together a FYS Commons event
Feb 16th, 2007 by Mary Ellen Bertolini
This fall (and last) I hosted a Jane Austen Dinner Dance for my first-year seminar (FYSE 0144), Jane Austen and Film. I used my Atwater Commons money to mount each event. In each case, I invited another Atwater Commons FYS to attend (and use its money) for the event. Both dancing and food play an important part in Jane Austen’s novels. In fact, the marriage prospects of Austen’s characters often depend on their willingness and ability to dance, so the experience of dining and dancing as Austen’s characters do enabled my students to better understand both Austen’s characters and their milieu.
I used my FYS funds to hire an expert on English country dancing. You can see pictures from the two events here: (F06) & (F05)
The dinner provided by catering consisted of authentic Regency recipes, many form the Jane Austen Cookbook. Each dish on the menu, also, paralleled a quotation from an Austen novel. The green tablecloths reflected our Atwater Commons affiliation. Here is our menu.
Here is a short i-movie I created for my students with pictures and video of this year’s event: Dance i-move.
At the end of the semester when students chose individual research topics, several chose dancing or dining in the Regency era.
