For the first time, Ballroom FAU, a club revolving around will be hosting a gala inspired by the popular Netflix series Bridgerton this Friday, March 31. The event will be held at Live Oak C and D in the Student Union and will begin at 6 p.m.

In addition, there will be free food and refreshments available. The food will be coordinated with the theme of the show, which is set in a reimagined England’s Regency era. Students can expect to find tea and lemonade alongside desserts such as brownies.

According to Ballroom FAU co-president Marina Watkins, she came up with the idea of hosting this event since she is a fan of the show and saw that Bridgerton-themed events are a growing trend.

 “I saw on social media that there were other Bridgerton theme balls going on around the country and I thought perfectly paired with our club, since we do a lot of similar dancing,” said Watkins. 

The Bridgerton gala is one of the largest events that Ballroom FAU has done in the past few years. Being an established club since 2005, Ballroom FAU used to host events consistently. However, since the COVID-19 lockdown, the club hasn’t been able to host large-scale events.

“We’ve had consistency, but we’ve never had like a big event. Definitely after COVID a lot of the clubs especially Ballroom had a lot of challenges because of restrictions,” said Esteban Garcia Ruiz, the co-president of Ballroom FAU. “And it took a big toll on us, but we recovered after COVID. Actually, this semester and last semester, we got the biggest average in our classes. Usually, we get around before COVID, we will get around like 12 people and now we are getting around 26 to 30.” 

There will be free ballroom dance lessons and a formal dress code. Students are also encouraged to dress up in Regency-era attire but it is not required.  The music playing at the event will be waltz music but will be covers of modern-day songs much like what is done in the TV show.

“It is a formal since a lot of people like my friends didn’t get a chance to wear their prom dresses in high school due to COVID. So this is a chance for us to bring them out and learn to learn some other ballroom dance skills like the waltz. Listen to some more Bridgerton-themed music, have some desserts, and just have a good time,” said Watkins.

For more information on Ballroom FAU and their upcoming events, visit their Instagram page.

Melanie Gomez is the Features Editor for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, you can contact her at [email protected] or on her Instagram page @cupidfloats.