Live Shots: Dark whimsy and baroque frivolity at 2025 Edwardian Ball

The 2025 Edwardian Ball on Friday, January 31, was a celebration of dark whimsy and baroque frivolity. Arriving in the Regency Ballroom rotunda, guests were greeted by the “concierge” on duty—a rotating cast of Fou Fou Ha! Edward Gorey characters and other performers. The Speakeasy Syndicate had his signature “old timey-wimey, big band, floor-slappin’ music” drifting out of the grand ballroom luring attendees into the fun. Billed as the Pop Up! Edition (in honor of Gorey’s only pop up book—The Dwindling Party), the party, now in its 23rd year, gave guests the opportunity of seek out two main performance stages and enjoy the performances that would pop up around them.

Roots rock act Sgt. Splendor, the high-flying Vau de Vire Society Variety Show, and Balkan band Inspector Gadje graced the stage in the Grand Ballrooms. Between acts, the back of the ballroom was a pop-up music scene. San Francisco goth-drag royalty Peaches Christ brought her sexy self to emcee. Inspired by the Vau de Vire Variety Show, she’s hoping to learn aerial circus skills, so she, too, can perform in a “giant cock ring.” Offering sound advice, Peaches suggested the audience shop small businesses rather than those monolithic monopolies, and the vast Vendor Bazaar provide all manner of unique, slightly dark, creative adornments for self and home.

Meanwhile, upstairs in The Museum of Wonders, bands were paired with visual performers for more immersive pieces integrating music and movement: La Zuli and Dark Garden performed jointly. Fou Fou Ha! had a balloon limbo going as Parlor Tricks played in the gazebo in the middle of the lodge. Ingenuity award goes to La Zuli for solving a mobile band problem: Their bedecked baby buggy served as their amplifier carriage. Bela Ruino and Bad Unkl Sista rounded out those pairings.

Throughout the venue, clown Tumbleweed skated, juggled, and lassoed to entertain and delight. Clothing store Dark Garden perched magnificent models on perilous pedestals above the Grand Ballroom dance floor, creating a sensual contrast between the activity below and stationary models above. When a break was needed, one could pick up a Kinetic Steam Works souvenir coasters, created on site with a Chandler & Price old style platen press. Or, find a cozy couch to canoodle with one’s date, flop on the pillow lounge in the Magic Lantern Society Midnight Theater Space, or sip a cup of tea and watch the dancers.

As always, beads and boas, heels and hats, steampunk and “sexy” were in abundance. Additionally, this year a Dickens Fair denizen, some Folsom Street Fair aficionados, frogs with fringe hats, a fully green Elphaba, and a red capped gnome were spotted amongst the Gorey characters scampering about.

Interactive installations sparked curiosity. The Trading Company set up a Bird Bar which later transformed into the Placebo Dispensary. At The Dream Eater Society one could donate a dream (or nightmare) in return for a Temporal Placeholder to bring one back to that moment in time, or for those daring souls, one could adopt a ghost. To rest one’s feet and tempt fate, guests could ride a boat into the mouth of a Goeryesque monster.

Chimera Terrace was one of the new installations this year. Tucked away in a corner of the lodge, the terrace’s swing was a hit—the adult-sized swing inspired playfulness (and great IG photos). While waiting for the swing a tiny stage offered various chimeras a sounding board. One time, a Harpie—half bird, half woman—held court while a fortune teller gazed into a crystal ball to share the future’s secrets.

Art is always a focus for the ball, and this year’s selections were superlative. One could have a “dog tag” made by Steve La Riccia’s Oppenheimer’s Enigma. Many made offerings to the murder of crows in “Cawwmentary” an “Interactive Kinetic Sculpture” by Joe Palmieri changing the piece as the evening progressed. Burning Man artists showcased awesome pieces. “Three Sisters” by Valerie Mallory depicts a seductively haunting tableau of life sized figures—perfectly positioned in an alcove outside the mezzanine. While Naga the sea serpent (she of Naga & the Captainess ) couldn’t make the Ball, several of the treasure chests she guards were on display.

Each chest was designed and fabricated by a different artist. In one, an optical illusion evokes the sense of peering down a portal into another realm. Another explores the motif of bones, brokenness, and bongage with a bunch of “real” bones stowed amid broken bone China mended using the kintsugi method. The rumble chest is home to a creature of terrible power one will hear rather than see. Perhaps exploring the fragility, yet utter necessity of hope, one chest has an exterior of handmade ceramic tiles and with a few sea creatures protecting dragon eggs nestled into a net inside.

Carmen Brito created the dragon egg chest and explained Naga, the ship, and the chests to interested passers by. A sartorial bonus, Brito donned a tantalizing tarot dress and occasionally gave a reading for the curious. To be more involved in the art, one could draw a Gorey scene or be a model for Edi Hsu’s amazing artist sketches.

Part of the magic of the ball is guests and performers intermingling throughout the night. Dwoira Galielea danced, spun, and contorted in an aerial hoop piece in the Vau de Vire Variety show. Later, Galielea created a sensual impromptu performance art piece with Elena Sanders on the swing in the Chimera Terrace for the lucky few who happened to be there. Unique moments abounded, and no two people shared the same Ball experience. Exhibitionists and voyeurs share fleeting conversations or, perhaps, incipient relationships.

For an annual event such as the Edwardian Ball to have such longevity, organizers have to strike a delicate balance between the traditional and the novel. Paradox Media and Vau de Vire served a delightful dish of Bay Area art and entertainment for first time attendees and regulars alike. One simply can not take in all that is the Edwardian Ball at once. Go early (explore the purportedly haunted lodge), stay late (experience as much as possible), and by all means, start planning your outfit for 2026. —words: Patty Riek, photos: Jon Bauer