On a recent, foggy Saturday evening, two Knoxville communities came together with the University of Tennessee English department to travel back in time to early 1800’s England. Just across World’s Fair Park, the University of Tennessee’s James D. Hoskins library provided an ideal setting for an evening of traditional English Country Dance, tea and scones, an opportunity to learn about Jane Austen on what would be her 250th birthday, all with a dash of romance thrown in. All of this was framed by scripted student actors leading attendees through the Regency Ball’s festivities.
First, if you’ve never been in Hoskins, do yourself a favor and go have a look. It’s one of my favorite buildings on campus. The original part of the building opened in 1931 with a Collegiate Gothic style. The high vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows and beautiful arches all provide a backdrop that transports visitors to ages past. The Regency Ball took advantage of this space to weave a fantasy of the Regency Era.
Why a Regency Ball?
Dr. John Han, professor of English at the University of Tennessee, and I sat down to discuss the reasons behind hosting a Regency Ball. For student attendees, Dr. Han told me that “we’re trying to create a presence in the university that…[the English Department] does a lot of other fun stuff besides just teaching Melville and Shakespeare. I think we also want to create a community for them, give them a space where they can kind of express themselves. I mean, that’s, after all, what English is about, right?”
The Regency Ball has evolved its structure and purpose over the years. As with many recent events I’ve covered, the impacts of COVID have been a common theme. Dr. Han told me that “This generation, I think, they’re kind of suffering a lot. I mean, they’ve been through COVID during high school years, right? And so I think…every student’s going to want some escape. But when you’ve kind of been through that kind of trauma, I think having an escape that’s already been fully realized and fully romanticized is something more enduring. It’s more alluring to them.“ Han noted that the Regency Ball’s size is very conducive to an intimate setting, which makes it popular with students. Romance was a major theme of the evening, especially with the Saturday ball being on the night after Valentine’s Day.
Money raised from the ball will fund student scholarships. I asked if this was a recruiting event for English, and Dr. Han said the event was more focused on letting “people know that English is not this dead language thing. It’s a community. Our undergrads have lots of good connections and friendships. So it’s largely for them.”
So, how does the event appeal to Knoxvillians? Dr. Han said, “I think Knoxville’s a pretty artsy city, with Big Ears…My first year here…I didn’t know how big Dolly Parton was and Dollywood. I mean, I kind of have a feeling that Knoxville is a pretty artsy city. I think this helps interface the university population with hopefully the…population of Knoxvillians. I hope that the locals can see this as kind of the university’s attempt to contribute to Knoxville’s kind of art vibe.” The ball not only contributed to that art vibe but benefited from it. Dance instructors were all locally based in the downtown Knoxville area, and Knoxville’s Jane Austen Society assisted in the evening.
An Evening of Traditional Dance and Food
Dr. Han told me that this year’s event featured “dance instruction, the music, and also just to give students and guests here a space to kind of relax, drink tea, and pretend they’re in the 19th century.” For the 2025 Regency Ball, University of Tennessee English students worked to plan and execute the event. Han told me that, for the Sunday session, “pretty much all the work is being done by undergraduates, a lot of whom are in the English department. So it creates a certain, I think, camaraderie to know that they can say, hey, I’m in this department that created this event.”
Knoxville-based acting troupe First Take Co, who staged the 2024 Regency Ball with set pieces taking up around 40% of the time, were in Europe during this year’s ball and could not perform, so university students took up the call. Dr. Han served as the “point person” and secured locations and other details. Dr. Han mentioned two students in particular that were instrumental in this year’s ball: Laura Snyder and a current student of his, Hannah Buchanan.
Dr. Han said of Snyder, “She wrote the script. She did all the set design. I just kind of was just the one double-checking stuff, making phone calls…She’s an English major. I actually taught her when she was a freshman in my entry to Jane Austen course. And at that point, she was a pre-med student, and she loved Jane Austen so much, she switched over to English. So I started working with her. We actually started a Taylor Swift literary club.”
Attendees had the opportunity to visit a selfie station where they could showcase their best Regency-era outfits outside the main event area. While observing the scene, I noticed an intriguing trend: both students and adults seemed hesitant to embrace modern technology. Although many were taking selfies and pictures of one another, there was a clear, collective effort—especially among students—to keep electronics out of sight. Events like this naturally have an anachronistic element, but it was fascinating to see how everyone worked together to preserve the illusion of being transported to the early 1800s.
The main event of the evening was the formal ball. Led by the quartet and dance calling troupe, Lark of the Morn, attendees were trained in traditional English Country Dances. I spoke with the dance caller Karan Dotson and was surprised to discover that this troupe has been teaching English Country Dance on Sunday evenings for the last 40 years. The group meets at the Laurel Theater most Sunday evenings to dance. The group is open for new members who wish to learn dances from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries as well as Jane Austen’s time, the early 19th. If you wish to join and learn, just come by the Laurel Theater most Sunday nights at 7 PM. Check their Facebook page to check for more information.
Timothy Klein called the dance on the floor of the ball. On the Sunday evening prior to the Regency Ball, Lark of the Morn also offered a class to prepare attendees. I was able to capture some of the amazing dance happening. My apologies for the blurry footage of Lark of the Morn. The music was too good to not include it in this montage.
Dr. Misty Anderson, Professor and Head of English at UTK, and I spoke during the event. Dr. Anderson noted, “The Regency Ball has taken a few different forms over the last eight years, but the Hoskins Library setting is my favorite. It’s a chance for students and community members to connect to each other and their love of great novels like Austen’s in one of the most iconic spaces at UT, the Hoskins Library. With the help of the experts at Lark of the Morn, everyone was dancing like they had been doing English country dance since childhood. It was a joy to behold. You can still see some of the photos or post your own at @UTKEnglish on Facebook or Instagram.”
The Austen Connection
The Regency Ball has heavy ties to Jane Austen, who wrote her novels during this era. The ball’s ties to Austen are particularly strong this year as 2025 marks what would be her 250th birthday (December 16, 1775). One of Austen’s common themes, pressure on young women to marry a prosperous husband, helped to frame the evening’s narrative set pieces. Actors McKinley Merritt playing the female lead and Sammy Pontello playing the male were siblings whose mother had instructed, via a letter read at the start of the evening, to seek suitable mates at the ball.
Having a degree in English literature, I know that Austen has an enduring legacy among readers two centuries later, but I had really never bothered to ask why until this event. I spoke with Renee Rios Weber, co-coordinator of the East Tennessee Region chapter of The Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA), as well as Dr. Han who teaches an Austen course at the university about this question. Weber said that Austen “transcends time. It even transcends the binary that we use now. We don’t always see that…it still depends on who’s your father, what you’re doing with your career. Those things are still part of the universe.” Weber also pointed out that Austen did not even have her name placed on her own work; her work was attributed to “a lady.”
Dr. Han, who teaches the Introduction to Austen Course, told me that though he wanted to say it’s the writing, the entry point is mostly through popular culture like Downton Abbey and any number of other shows. He added, “I think they’re getting…Jane Austen second hand, so …in my course they’re often shocked at like what they think they know about Jane Austen and what actually happened.”
Both the university coursework and JASNA help to instruct the students and public on who Austen really was. For Weber, the importance of learning the culture matters even today. She said, “The way people dance, the way people interacted, represented a whole lot of how we lived, and there are so many differences, but the reason for them is universal. So I think it’s both. It’s the fun part, and it’s educational. It expands your mind.” Weber and her husband both dance with Lark of the Morn and noted that these events give Knoxvillians an alternative place to dance that is outside of the normal options in Knoxville.
JASNA of East Tennessee meets around Knoxville, including downtown locations several times a year. They meet to discuss and learn about Austen, play traditional games, dance and more. Members have attended the national convention in various locations around the United States. Since it is Austen’s 250th birthday, the national JASNA organization is offering a free one-year membership to high school and college students. Students can apply here without cost for a one year membership.
The Future of the Regency Ball
I asked if the Regency Ball would return in the future. Dr. Han told me that “We’re probably going to do it every two years.” Numbers were down somewhat from last year, so to prevent Jane Austen burnout and keep the event sustainable, Regency Balls will become a biennial event. Should that be the case, the next ball will be held in 2027. In the meantime, check out the English Country Dance sessions and the Jane Austen Society of North America or pick up a copy of an Austen novel at your favorite book store.
