| Dancers, Players, Hoop Racers, Drummers
To Grace Grand May Day April 30
As finals week approaches and Bryn Mawr students bear down on exams and papers, the College's traditional May Day celebration urges emergence from the library stacks and the lifting of noses from grindstones with a daylong moratorium on academic activity. This year marks a Grand May Day, an enhanced celebration that occurs every four years, and the festivities have the unusual distinction of occurring in April — on Sunday, April 30.
Traditions Mistresses Rachel Friedensen '07 and Elhanna Porter '07 have scheduled a gallimaufry of activities that goes far beyond the traditional Maypole dancing and strawberries-and-cream breakfast. The celebration begins at 5:45 a.m., when sophomores awaken seniors with flower baskets and song, and ends with the traditional late-night screening of The Philadelphia Story, starring Katharine Hepburn '28. In between, there will be not only the Maypole dance, but the Mayhole dance, a wry feminist response to the traditional English fertility rite; an African dance workshop; traditional South Asian henna painting; singing by Bryn Mawr and Haverford a cappella groups as well as the Reniassance Choir; A Midsummer Night's Dream and numerous other performances. A special Grand May Day attraction is a performance by a group of Philadelphia Mummers.
Bryn Mawr Dining Services will be out in full force, serving a picnic lunch on Merion Green from 11:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Carnival refreshments will be served in the Campus Center Main Lounge from 1 to 4 p.m., and dinner, on Merion Green from 5 to 7 p.m., will be served to the accompaniment of a mariachi band.
All events are free and most are open to the general public. The festivities usually draw a substantial crowd from the surrounding community, as well as friends and family of Bryn Mawr students, faculty, staff and alumnae. Among the day’s public performances and events:
8:45 a.m. |
Convocation held in ye Goodhart Hall, where Academic Awards are announced |
|
|
Ye Morris Dancers perform in front of Pembroke Arch. Rain site: Thomas Great Hall
|
9:30 a.m. |
Ye Grande Processional with the President of the College, the May Queenes, Traditions Mistresses, Songs Mistresses, Worthies, May Pole Dancers, Fire Eater, Stilt Walker and Mummers. Rain site: Thomas Great Hall |
10 a.m. |
Ye Mummers give a short performance on ye Merion Greene. May Pole Dancing on ye Merion Greene. May Queenes are crowned, and ye President and ye May Queenes deliver Humourous Speeches. |
10:30 a.m. |
Senior Hoop Race down ye Senior Row. |
11 a.m. |
May Hole Dancing on ye Denbigh Green.
Carnival food provided in the Campus Center Main Lounge until 4 p.m. |
11:15 a.m. |
A Picnic lunch is served on ye Merion Greene until 1:15 p.m. Rain site: Rhoads Dining Hall |
11:30 a.m. |
African Dance Session on ye Taylor Greene sponsored by Dance Department. Rain site: Pembroke Dance Studio
Scottish Country Dancing on ye Merion Greene. Rain site: Goodhart Music Room
T-shirt sales in front of ye Campus Center until 5 p.m. Rain site: Campus Center Foyer |
noon |
Rugby Sing-Along on ye Denbigh Green. Rain site: Denbigh Living Room.
A capella concert on ye Carpenter Roof featuring the Night Owls, the Extreme Keys, Looney Tunes, Chaverim, Humtones, S Chords, Lavender's Blue, 2Fish. Rain site: Thomas Great Hall.
Flute Choir performs on ye Campus Center Mezzanine. |
1 p.m. |
Greek play in ye Sunken Garden. Rain site: Gateway Conference Room.
Henna painters sponsored by SAW, Personacards sponsored by Student Activities, and Caricaturist in front of ye Canaday Library until 3 p.m. Rain site: Lusty Cup |
2 p.m. |
Robin Hood play in ye Taft Garden. Rain site: Quita Woodward Room |
3 p.m. |
A Midsummer Night's Dream as presented by Bryn Mawr College Shakespeare Perfomance Troupe in ye Sunken Garden. Rain site: Erdman Living Room.
PANTS, featuring Bi-College Students, performs on ye Carpenter Roof. Rain site: Thomas Great Hall |
6 p.m. |
Archaeology Fashion Show sponsored by Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology in ye Cloisters. Rain site: Quita Woodward Room. |
7 p.m. |
Ye Bryn Mawr Reniassance Choir Concert in Thomas Great Hall. |
| 8 p.m. |
The last Step Sing of the year on ye Senior Steps. |
<<Back to Bryn Mawr Now 4/20/2006
Next story>>
|
