2012-01-24

Guerrilla Balls - Primer

A guerrilla ball is a "meta-event", usually symbiotic with an host event that shares one or more qualities in common with a ball (but is not necessarily an actual ball,) whereby participants attend the host event dressed and behaving as though at a ball. Alternatively it *is* an actual ball wherein something about the event or participation therein can be considered subversive, secret, or sneaky.

A ball here is defined as a social evening gathering, usually lavish and requiring formal dress, typically involving a dinner, ballroom dancing, and entertainment such as live chamber music, traditional performances, and/or oratory.

The neologism guerrillaballing is a term used to describe the act of creating a guerrilla ball out of an event or circumstance.

Examples:

- The Ice Ball.
The original guerrilla ball. See the primer for an explanation.


- The Big Baltz.
The guerrillaballing of a promotional stunt called The Big Waltz, wherein members of the public were invited to participate in a 1000-person Viennese Waltz on Lincoln Center Plaza. Guerrilla Ballers wore formal wear while waltzing, thus appearing to be at a ball.


- The Beach Ball.
An embellishment of a public prank by ImprovEverywhere called Black Tie Beach, wherein pranksters engaged in a day at the beach dressed in black (or white) tie. The addition of a fancy dinner--or as translated in to beach culture, a picnic--and dancing, created the conceptual telltale of a ball.


- The Bouncy Ball.
A very metaphysical ball comprised of a collection of photos of ballers simulating the postures and manners stereotypical of a ball as translated for the medium of trampolines, from various different times and places: http://saomsdangledthreads.blogspot.com/2012/05/bouncy-ball.html



- Society Ball Spelunks.
So-called society balls are actual balls, usually thrown by or at least originally patronized by groups of people connected by ancestry or affiliation. They are customarily lavish and somewhat exclusive (if not by policy then by privacy and economics.)
Spelunk refers to urban spelunking, which itself extends the scope of the activity more popularly known as Urban Exploration. Urban Exploration involves the exploring of structures, areas, and urban features that are hidden, inaccessible, or prohibited, such as abandoned buldings, ruins, city infrastructure, etc.
Urban spelunking as applied in the context of guerrilla balls also includes infiltrating locations and attending events in which one has no sanction to participate; such as society balls.


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