Kaylee Kelley from STAR News previews one of St Andrews’ biggest events, the Kate Kennedy May Ball.

1. How would you characterise this year’s May Ball? How does it differ from last year?

This year’s Charity May Ball will cater to more tastes than before. We have achieved this by providing a wide range of musical tastes with improved stage production and by hiring three established acts representing separate genres. It has been a long while since May Ball had an act that actually ‘performed’, and so we brought Yungen in to get the crowd really involved in the ball. We have upgraded the VIP section too!

2. What kind of music could one expect?

VIP guests will be able to enjoy the sounds of our popular local DJs Hamish Rea, Matt Payne, James Peel. On the main stage we will start the night with a jazz band to welcome our guests. We then have Tom Hurst (of the Wax Collective) opening for mainstay of the UK rap scene Yungen, famous for his feud with Chip and latterly for his hits ‘Bestie’, ‘bad’ and ‘mind on it’. Our main act, Sam Feldt will follow for an hour and a half set. Finally Redlight will close out the main stage with more intense deep house and techno. On the third stage we will have Anna -Sophie and Flo and Ahmed from the BPM Collective.

3. What to wear?

The dress code is black tie and it is the last opportunity students will have of dressing up like this before summer so we feel it is nice to follow the dress code. It is one of the things that definitely separate it from any other event and night out in St Andrews. For the male guests the classic tuxedo is the way to go. We advise them to be creative when choosing their bow tie, it adds something different to their look since there is not a lot of ways in which they can stand out from each other. For female guests even though shorter dress are always the preference, it is nice to keep in mind that we don’t get a lot of events in which we can use a long dress so this is definitely an opportunity for those that have that beautiful long gown waiting to get out of the closet. Also, it is important to keep in mind that the night is very long and high heels might not be the best option.

4. Is there a particular element that are you most excited about?

Definitely the new vibe we will be giving to the VIP tent with the clear roof and walls. The decoration will be magical. Also, the lounge and complimentary food will add a special touch. Apart from that our line up of djs and acts is very exciting. The fact that there will be a bit of everything for every type of guest is something that excites me since it means that everyone will be able to have a great time.

5. How does May Ball compare to the other Kate Kennedy events?

The May Ball is naturally somewhat similar to our sellout Opening Ball, but on a much larger scale and with far more production value. Because of the increased capacity we can do a lot more for our guests than we can at opening ball, where the space and the infrastructure limit things. We do a number of smaller events that often go unnoticed in the St Andrean event market- over the next few weeks we run a charity Golf Day, Six-a-side football tournament and May Ball is obviously different from the 400-year-old spring procession! That said, May Ball is our biggest and most expected one, and that is not going to change this year. However, at the end of the day, all of our events have the same goal in mind- raising charity to our fife chosen charities and strengthen gown and town relations.