Let purists quibble that 2014 Krampus Ball Ypsi, held last night at the DreamLand Theatre, happened too long after the Feast of St. Nicholaus (December 6th) when the Krampus traditionally run free. There is NO better way to prepare for the shortest day of the year, than to dance the night away at a debauched masquerade. This was the first Krampus Ball that Elsa and I attended, and we were delighted top to bottom, start to finish.
I wish I could say that my dance floor photos were intentionally blurred to protect the naughty from Santa’s wrath, but truth is I couldn’t keep from shaking my ass long enough to take a good shot.
As befits the Krampus tradition, dancers took turns getting spanked. Here, a marionette Krampus scourged one of the naughty, which blended a deliciously perverse Punch and Judy element into the already twisted tradition. Throughout the night, the Dreamland Theater’s cast of marionettes performed. Make no mistake: puppets party hard.
But the highlight of any masquerade is the costumes. I’d worked on my costume all week (as I blogged about here) and Elsa dolled herself up good with her corset and Theatre Bizarre fez.
I was extremely glad to see others had indulged their creativity.
The costume contest allowed contestants to shimmy and shake during the judging phase. But in the end, the golden baton went, appropriately enough to a Krampus — complete with basket of bad children.
At midnight, the festivities reconvened outside led by a locally familiar torch-bearer.
A brass band performed as we paraded to a mystery location, behind a traveling screen of shadow puppets. These monstrous outlines of light and shade seemed particularly appropriate for such near Solstice revels.
On and on, into the night, into the wilds, we danced.
We arrived at a secondary party location complete with fire barrels, more shadow puppets, and brass band music.
The party was still going STRONG when Elsa and I strayed back to reality, sure of only one thing: We’ll definitely be back for Krampus Ball 2015.
