Chapter 22: The Palace Soirée, Part 2
During the soirée banquet, singers and dancers entertained the guests.
The singers included an Irish woman, a French singer of opera, and an American folk singer who sang "Oh! Susanna!" as she performed an 1850 version of the can-can dance. Amelia sang a mermaid song, though only three guests knew what a mermaid song would sound like. Another guest, Joseph Phillbrick Webster, tells Amelia that he had performed on stage with the Swedish Nightingale Jenny Lind. Compared to Amelia, Webster says, Jenny Lind sounds like an angry parrot.
This chapter describes the songs, dances, costumes, and musical instruments of the day. Ironically, a belly dancer's costume in 1850 was more modest than a ballet dancer's costume.
After Emily's performance, she meets a university professor who speaks of academic matters. Emily had once looked up the word academic in a dictionary and learned that it means, "having no practical or useful value." Professor Eggerton Head tells her about academic research, academic papers, academic reviews, and academic conferences. The people who get involved in those things are called academics. Emily is amazed that the man should boast of his uselessness.
Princess Azzarilla Naiz's father tells King Zaniddiate that his daughter earned a baccalaureate in polyglot studies from the University of Marcio, a "no-nonsense university." Instead of teaching students things they'll soon forget, the University of Marcio teaches only the things the students will still remember a few years after graduation. For that reason, instead of wasting four years on their studies, students need to study only four weeks. After graduation, if they ever need to know more than that, all they have to do is look it up.
The singers included an Irish woman, a French singer of opera, and an American folk singer who sang "Oh! Susanna!" as she performed an 1850 version of the can-can dance. Amelia sang a mermaid song, though only three guests knew what a mermaid song would sound like. Another guest, Joseph Phillbrick Webster, tells Amelia that he had performed on stage with the Swedish Nightingale Jenny Lind. Compared to Amelia, Webster says, Jenny Lind sounds like an angry parrot.
Dancers included a ballet dancer performing a portion of La Sylphide, a Gypsy belly dancer, and (with her father playing an early version of "Irish Washerwoman" on the fiddle, Emily McAllister. Emily doesn't want to cheapen her performance by admitting that it's a Sawyer Island cockroach-stomping dance, so she gives the dance another name: Irish step dancing.
This chapter describes the songs, dances, costumes, and musical instruments of the day. Ironically, a belly dancer's costume in 1850 was more modest than a ballet dancer's costume.After Emily's performance, she meets a university professor who speaks of academic matters. Emily had once looked up the word academic in a dictionary and learned that it means, "having no practical or useful value." Professor Eggerton Head tells her about academic research, academic papers, academic reviews, and academic conferences. The people who get involved in those things are called academics. Emily is amazed that the man should boast of his uselessness.
Princess Azzarilla Naiz's father tells King Zaniddiate that his daughter earned a baccalaureate in polyglot studies from the University of Marcio, a "no-nonsense university." Instead of teaching students things they'll soon forget, the University of Marcio teaches only the things the students will still remember a few years after graduation. For that reason, instead of wasting four years on their studies, students need to study only four weeks. After graduation, if they ever need to know more than that, all they have to do is look it up.
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