For many attendees, the Black and White Ball is a time honored tradition at Fanime. This formal dance has come a long way since it's early stages in 2007 and 2008 when it was held in the convention center ballrooms. Back then, the ball was overcrowded and lighted poorly. The music selection was fine, but dancers were unsure if the music was appropriate for West Coast Swing or Hustle (or even both!). In 2009, the Black and White ball was moved to the Fairmont Hotel, just 5 minutes within walking distance from the San Jose Convention Center. An actual hotel ballroom was ultilized and people actually dressed up for this event. Famed AMV creator, Brad DeMoss wrote on his Facebook, "The Black & White Ball is now officially THE reason to attend FanimeCon!"

Murphy's Law prevented me from wearing my original dress, so I brought my backup formal Hinamori Momo cosplay. The design was inspired by Tristen Citrine's division ten dress. Jared and I dinned at the restaurant at the Fairmont. We just came in time for happy hour. Though the food was pricey, it was worth every penny.

The ballroom dance had a strict dress code. Despite the name of the event, you could wear any colors other than black or white. If you wore a pink dress, you could still get in easily. The event had a few new services available. The first new service was photos from the Black and White ball. This is akin to getting prom photos taken. Those cost $5. The other new service was flowers for your date if you wanted a corsage or a boutonnière.

After showing your badge at the door, you could claim a chair or table to put your stuff down. There was a giant screen that showed you what songs were coming up next and what song was being played and what type of dance it was appropriate for. I liked the eclectic mix of anime, J-pop, classical, big band, and American popular music (Top 40 and oldies). Some people felt weirded out by dancing to Jason DeRule ("In My Head") and Chris Brown ("Forever"), but if Dancing With the Stars can take popular music and make them danceable, I see no problem doing a West Coast Swing to Jay Sean's "Do You Remember."

The dance also had a few exhibitions from the instructors. If you wanted to perfect your Argentine Tango or learn something new, you could always ask an intstructor to help you out. They were easy to spot because they wore blue arm bands.

Jared and I decided to take a break from dancing. We explored around the Fairmont hotel to see if anything else related to Fanime was going on. One common problem with the Black and White Ball is that water is not being refilled quickly as it should. Jared and I found a room full of water. Right next door was the Magical Boutique. I learned earlier in the year that Cosplay Oneesan was holding "Fantasies dans le monde des reves" (Fantasies in Dreamland) event. This was a Lolita tea party event and it also provided a boutique where you could shop for Lolita items. However, it seemed vague whether or not this was a part of Fanime Con. Fanime did not advertise this in their programming guide. There was also a separate admission for this event.

Jared had a few words about Lolita:

We went back to the dance to find that there was a line to get back in. It seemed that the Black and White ball garnered enough popularity to have a line outside to get in. We went back to the Marriott to take care of a few things, but once we got back to the dance, the line had cleared and we were able to get back in.

For the rest of the night, we were just showing off our dance moves and hanging out with friends at the dance.

I will agree with Brad DeMoss' comment that the Fanime Black and White ball is one of the best events at Fanime Con. It definately makes the trip worth it. Many anime conventions have tried to do a formal dance, but Fanime has it right. Fanime offers ballroom lessons periodically throughout the weekend. I appreciate that dress code is enforced to keep the atmosphere of a formal ball. I like the happy medium between a formal prom and a traditional ballroom dance. It would get troublesome if everyone had to stick to rigid Victorian standards of dance, but incoporating what is familliar with an American high school prom and taking it a step up (minus the high school drama and underage drunken bonfires to follow after that). I highly reccomend this event to anyone who wants to have an epic Fanime weekend. Just keep up with Dancing With the Stars and you'll be fine on the dance floor.

On the way back, we ran into voice actor Jonathan Osborne. He talks about his love for the nutter butter:

What a way to end the night! Upon arriving back to the convention center, I was interviewd by Matt and Ryan (California Conventions Blog) about the ballroom dance. That interview can bee seen here.

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