A Mexican Hat Dance, pottery style

I've been looking forward to yesterday for a couple weeks now. We had a class party at the pottery studio to celebrate Cinco De Mayo. It was a BYOB and Pot Luck, however I was anything but organized enough to cook, so here are a few things I took along to contribute:

Some lights to help turn our wearhouse into something a little less wearhousy, and a speaker...


...some more lights - the pinjata is not mine, but more about this later...


...a small P.A., some Latin music discs and a light control desk...


...another speaker and a sombrero...
(See if you can spot the other sombrero in other photos! ...kinda like "where's Waldo"!)


...and a sun. This sun and the sombreros have successfully made it to numerous parties over the years, and survived to party on! You may even see someone else's son in the photo, but I doubt he's been to as many parties.



The main attraction. Dave, our instructor, is part of this celtic band. They decided to try their hand at Salsa, and did really rather well. They even dressed the part! (Can you spot the other sombrero?)


Some closeups of the band members...

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...and I wish I could remember their names...


...but this girl goes to the Univeristy, and says she'll likely see me in passing as we frequent some of the same common areas like the food court and the rotunda of the Social Sciences building. Small world.


Here is our leader. Dave makes throwing pots look so very simple. (He's been at it since 1962.) Not only does he play with clay, he also plays and builds drums. Amazing. Behind him sits the kiln.


Some of my classmates.


The glazing area (see the vats of glaze under the tables) being transformed into our buffet table. I didn't get a photo of ALL the food once it arrived, but we were stuffed!


My attempt at an artistic shot.


Of course, the Mexican Hat Dance was a must...


...as was this.


Some folks even hung out on the other side and played with clay.



After the party, I stopped by my friend R.'s to share some tequila. My bottle is on the counter to the right, as R. poses with another to be sampled.

Tonight I'm off to a friend's birthday party, enjoying the opportunity to be sociable before I disappear into the books in a week for the following six weeks.

Adiós para ahora.