Dancing, masks, transformation

Designers: Sarah Clelland and Chris Hartford

Number of participants: 12–20

Duration: 4 hours

The presenter feels that this larp IS NOT suitable for young people aged 16+

About the larp

“Don’t you know that a midnight hour comes when everyone has to take off his mask? Do you think life always lets itself be trifled with? Do you think you can sneak off a little before midnight to escape this?” – Søren Kierkegaard

31st December, 1925

A group of friends gather to see in the New Year. On the surface, everything is politeness, and yet everyone has secret longings, hidden anger, dark thoughts that they dare not show.

As the music starts the guests don feathered masks and the ball begins. But tonight is no ordinary night, and magic is in the air. Hidden behind masks, their inner selves are revealed. Relationships are broken and reborn and truths are revealed without words.

When midnight strikes, who will they be?

This larp involves dancing but you do not need to know how. We will teach you everything you need to know in workshops before the game starts. You should be comfortable with holding another person in a dance hold and dancing with people of any gender.

Note: This is set in 1925 and racism, sexism, transphobia and homophobia etc exist in wider society. HOWEVER in this bohemian group of friends everything is accepted. It is not ok for players to express any racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia etc either in or out of character.

Presented by

Sarah Clelland: Sarah and Chris have combined dance and larp since they first played together and have taught numerous players to dance at College of Wizardry and Bothwell School of Witchcraft, as well as participating in dance-larps such as Valley of Shadows and Danse Macabre.

Parameters

Physical contact	Moderate contact; e.g. hugging, formal partner dancing
Romance and intimacy	Romance represented via dance. Hugging / handholding.
Conflict and violence	Violence / conflict represented through dance. No physical force. Shouting possible in the talking parts.
Communication style	Silent during dance sections, talking during talking sections
Movement style	Dancing
Characters	Players build their characters around a predesigned skeleton or archetype
Narrative control	Players have some influence over story, but there is basically a script or structure that they’re within
Transparency	Fully transparent – players will, or at least can, know absolutely everything in advance
Representation level	The fictional space looks very unlike the play space, but players will use their imaginations
Play culture	The whole concept of rivalry or cooperation between players doesn’t really apply
Tone	Dramatic

Sunday afternoon, Studio 1