The sun was setting on National Harbor. I decided to have a bite to eat before going to the ballroom dance. The hotel lobby bar was advertising sushi at sunset. However, the special was not available during the convention. A pity because it would have driven more business for the Gaylord. I wanted to check out the maid cafe, but there was a long line for it. Instead, I decided to spend some extra time getting ready for the ballroom dance.

Ballroom Dance

The ballroom dance took place in the early evening hours. Even before then, there was a line that snaked around the convention floor to get in. People were dressed to the nines whether it be in ballroom style cosplay or simple cocktail dresses. I liked that dress code was enforced for the Katsucon ballroom dance. Ladies were dressed to the nines and the gents were dressed in suit and tie. I also liked the dance had rules against super high heel shoes (since i did sustain a stiletto injury from Fanime 2011's Black and White Ball).

As a longtime attendee of convention ballroom dances, this was actually really good. The ball was held in main events hall. A section of the floor was made into ballroom dance space. It provided more than enough room for convention attendees to glide across the floor. The music was very mellow and classical. There wre the occassional east coast swing (ie: "Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra) and the occasional throwback to nerd culture (ie: "As the World Falls Down" by David Bowie. The music selection fit the occassion - very mellow and very fitting for an event that calls itself a ball.

The mood was set nice by dimmed lights and special lighting. There were a couple of wallflowers - mostly male. I did dance with an even number of men and women. What I enjoyed the most is that I loved teaching basic waltz to people who were willing to learn. While there were lessons held prior to the ball, not everyone attends it. I was happy to be the onsite dance mistress. This was an nice social event and I enjoyed attending it with my hotelmates. Because of the amount of women that I taught how to follow (ie: step first on the right), I think I should start going to ballroom dances as Lady Oscar or Haruhi from Host Club.

Artist Alley

During the evening hours, the artist alley was open for business. Though I ventured into the Artist Alley earlier in the day, the later hours really gave me a chance to take a look at everything. I was certainly impressed by the sheer variety of craft available at the Artist Alley. It is interesting to note that artists can only have anime style drawn things for sale. Despite the rule, there were still plenty of Dr. Who, Supernatural, Sherlock, My Little Pony, Marvel Comics, etc art sold, yet in the style of Japanese animation aesthetics.

What I really liked about this Artist Alley is that they had two photo booths and plenty of Lolita jewelry. I never thought that Mori Girl was popular in the DC metro area. I loved seeing all of the hair accessories and necklaces. I ended up taking home a rosary and purse from Mori Marchen and a necklace and hair accessory from Atelier Angel. A photo shoot booth had an opening so a female Teddy and I decided to go for a quick photo session.

Cosplay Burlesque

I needed some time to kill before the Persona shoot. I noticed a line that was snaking and circling through the top floor of the convention center. It seemed like there was a major event going on in main programming. I asked someone in line what it was and they replied, "It's cosplay stripping." It ended up being cosplay burlesque, but it's not quite a cosplay strip joint. Think masquerade without the competition aspect and with strip tease acts. The closest thing the west coast has to Cosplay Burlesque is the Bishie Aucition at Yaoi Con, but that's much more open to men stripping. Cosplay Burlesque is open to people in all shapes and sizes.

The show was running late. It took everyone a while to get seated. I felt the staff could have used a larger room as not everyone who lined up was able to get a seat. I had no idea that Cosplay Burlesque was pretty big. The show was hosted by two Mythbusters cosplayers - they were very entertaining and kept the showing rolling, even when there was technical difficulties. We did not have stage ninjas, we had stage plusies and minums.

I stuck around until it was time to go to the midnight Persona shoot. The first act was all about Persona - Mitsuru from the third game in the series walked on stage with a deck of tarot cards and all of a sudden, it became strip tarot. Cosplay Burlesque is not full on nudity, but performers strip down to pasties and undies. A female version of Ash stripped down to pasties that were designed to look like Pokeballs. The event was not trashy at all; there was some real creativity to these acts. Each of them acted in character and picked songs that suited the character to do their burlesque routine to. My favorite act that I saw was Esmerelda May's Moxxie - she really knew how to own the stage and how to captivate the audience. Though she was on the larger side, she knew how to strut the stage with confidence. Now that's sexy.

Persona Midnight Photoshoot

To end the evening, I was dressed up as Shadow Yukiko. Up to the point, I had two private shoots - one planned and one impromptu. It's typical for Persona fandoms to gather at midnight. We were originally going to have the shoot at the gazebo area, but the area had been blocked off by the neighboring BBYO conference. However, we improvised and moved to the downstairs fountain. Though the lighting was darker, we all had a great time posing for photos and taking requests.

It was a good mix of Persona 3 and Persona 4 cosplayers. We took all the typical group shots. One of the cosplayers brought a stash of blue velvet cupcakes for the attendees. What I liked about this fandom meet up is that I was able to meet people. I had a ton of compliments throughotu the day for Shadow Yukiko. Even after all the group poses, people were still mingling in the area and taking group photos. I really liked the vibe of the people at Katsucon - everyone was generally friendly. It was a nice way to wind down day one.

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