Oldies but Goldies

Tuomo writes: One cannot write about the high school experience in Finland and the penkkarit tradition without saying a word or two about the Vanhojentanssi, or the Oldies' Ball. At least not moi.

The day after the graduates-to-be have left on the truck, the next year's graduates become the oldest ones in the high school. No more Abis and their haughty looks and attitudes: you're the cat's meow now! And this of course calls for a celebration.

This celebration is called the Oldies' Ball when guys dress up in a tail coat or a tux and gals don an evening gown. Some girls actually spend a lot of time and effort (not to mention money) on the perfect coiffe and the perfect dress; the boys usually just focus on renting a tux, maybe geting a hair cut - and showing up sober. The theme is always fin de siècle which is reflected in the selection of music and dances; in addition to the "mandatory" standards, the Oldies usually also get to choose one song which they dance to. Then after several weeks of practice (which, much to the dismay of the boys, usually interferes with the outdoor hockey season), the whole school and the Oldies' parents get together in the school gym or whatever space is best suited for this noble event and watch the Oldies perform their dances. On that day, they are oh so old, so wise, so noble...

The following clip is, in my opinion, a fine example of what the Balls are like: very formal, yet a boatload of fun - though it can occasionally get quite crowded on the floor. Note that in my Oldies Ball we had a tape recorder play the music - not a live band like in this clip!



The song that my class chose as "our dance" (the Wienerwaltz) was to the tune of this song, the theme to The Amazing Adventures of Nils Holgerson, a popular children's show (!) at that time. This one is in Dutch; ours was the intrumental version (duh!):



What about others: what was your Oldies' dance?

If my memory doesn't fail me, my Oldies' Ball fell on a Valentine's Day. I brought up this coincidence on several occasions well before the Big Day. I mean, I thought it would've been so romantic and stuff to have the Ball and combine elements of romance in one day. But as I allued to yesterday, what can you do when you're surrounded by amateurs and idiots... It wasn't until ten years or so later that the Finnish Red Cross launched ystävänpäivä, or Friend's Day to fall on February 14th so that my blatherings would've made a difference among my class mates...

Nevertheless, I still remember that day 24 years ago with fond memories (Bagel Alert!). The gay boy in me had an absolutely fabulous day with everybody looking so beautiful, so handsome. And all that dancing... and (ahem) the attention I got from the girls. On several occasions, the girls' gym teacher had chosen me to dance with her to demonstrate the steps and moves. Ulla, my partner, was so glad that I was able to lead, and she actually revealed that a lot of the girls were a bit jealous of her. By the end of the night (can you hear I could've danced aaaall night?), my dance card had been literally shred to pieces! Never before had I received such positive attention from the girls, an important thing for anyone at that age, gay or straight...

Some weather-related trivia (global warming anybody?) that sheds more insight to what a geek I was... December 1983 (oops, the secret is out!) was not cold enough to freeze the school's sportsfield, so we couldn't play any hockey during gym classes before the holidays. When we got back to school in January, the weather was perfect for outdoors hockey, but (un)fortunately we had to use gym classes to practice the dances for the Ball. Then after the week-long holiday after the Ball, the temperature had risen again, making outdoor hockey impossible. The following year, my Abi year, when we had gym classes only till the holidays, yet again the weather was not suited for outdoor hockey...

Man, was I ever happy about these unfortunate weather patterns - not that I ever got to (or dared) share this joy with anybody at the time :-)