#rusfurrence

From my third visit to the wonderful Russian furry convention outside of Moscow.

See more galleries here:

Highlights: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexfvance/sets/72157650776657865/

Parties & Portraits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexfvance/sets/72157650357168700/

Fursuit Dance: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexfvance/sets/72157650750764782/

Events: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexfvance/sets/72157648429635514/

Fursuit Walk: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexfvance/sets/72157650354411940/

Group Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexfvance/sets/72157650773590135/

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Oodelally – I just got back from my third visit to Rusfurrence, the premier furry convention in Russia, held in a rickety Soviet hotel resort in the snowy way-out-beyond-skirts of Moscow.

Once more I was running stag with m’buddy Fox Amoore and also made the acquaintance of the Polish artist Bluairi and the con’s Guest of Honor: the quriously-qnamed Qzurr, a Hungarian black-maned crazy-tall artist who has the bearing and intensity of an intimidating Goth Viking but is totes a sweetheart and I wub him.

We foreigners did not show ourselves, regrettably, to be Furries Of The World when it came to the food. The hotel, you must understand, is in the middle of nowhere and so the only nourishment comes from their own kitchen. At set times of the day they provide a one of three warm meals which are, due to faltering currency and an evident disinterest in the hotel’s reputation, not super great. My beloved Ukranian salyanka soup was watered down to a pale shadow of itself and at night during a full moon, if you’re quiet and douse all the candles, you can still hear Qzurr’s wails about the hotel’s imitation of goulash echoing across the meadows…

The organization was, shall we say, ‘furry’. It was only when I opened the conbook that I discovered I was booked to shoot the group photo (fortunately I had foreseen this and prepared). The Fursuit Games, to which I’d been looking forward, had been moved to an earlier slot than stated in the conbook so regrettably I missed those. On the day I was to take the stage and back up Fox during his concert our rehearsal time was slashed when I was commanded to shoot the fursuit walk and group photo instead of setting up the con attendee con photo, which turned out to be unnecessary since someone else was already in charge – look, I want to talk about something.

I gave rather a poor showing at the concert, and while it certainly wasn’t atrocious, I’m not accustomed to feeling like I’ve done less than my best. Even when I read my shittiest stories from my youth, I know that I earnestly tried to do the best I could with the time and knowledge and resources I had, and I can always be proud of it – just not this time.

I’m half-ish Irish so I can hold a tune, but that’s no substitute for experience as a stage singer. We had very hot microphones and finnicky monitor speakers and I was surprised at the amount of concentration it required me to manage and balance my volume levels and plosives. An extra half-hour’s rehearsal time, preferably in the main hall itself, would have helped enormously – though of course, no-one’s to blame but Yours F. Truly. I should have been more sensitive to my inexperience, I should have anticipated my needs and concentrated better.

And I feel I failed my Russian friends in other ways, too. I hung out with my fellow foreigners a lot, whom I dearly love, but I wish I’d spent more time hunting down Obscure, Strangely-Themed Room Parties and more events with the Ruskies. Many of the friends I’ve made over the years couldn’t attend this year, or only for a short time, and I should have spent more time with them – and made more new friends.

Still, though. The con was great fun. The gorgeous Gabriel hosted a fursuit dance competition whose performers were absolutely mind-blowingly fantastic and there were a few occasions when, if I hadn’t been focused on the photography, I’d have needed to be taken to the fainting couch. I was especially impressed with a deer-boy who totally became this con’s fursuit crush for me, and whose tail I got to tug during my far-too-low-key rendition of Amadhia’s variation on Santa Baby during the concert.

And while the snow is slippery and cold, it’s the perfect habitat for fursuiters to perform crazy acrobatics or make friends with the skiers and vacationing scientists that the hotel attracts. Oh, and did I mention that some folks set up a freaking TESLA COIL in the basement and hooked it up to a synthesizer for Fox to play “Korobeiniki” on – in short, all the above included and notwithstanding, I had a wonderful time.

Thanks to our hosts for taking such good care of us, and to Russian furries for being just so damn awesome!

Yours,

Oh, what's that? You want to see EVEN MORE PHOTOS from RusFurrence? Sure, check out these puppies:

Portraits

Parties

Panels & Events (including the concert by Fox Amoore, guest starring Yours F. Truly)

Fursuiters

Fursuit Games

Back in the USSR! Last year, the organisers of RusFurrence invited me to snowy Russia in the middle of a (balmy) winter as Guest of Honor, and this year I accompanied their new GoH, Fox Amoore, since I just can't get enough of Russian furries.

Laser tag. Awesome fursuit games. Endless, wonderful room parties, incredible hospitality... it took my breath away. Too many incredible memories and wonderful people to mention, so take a gander at the highlight gallery below and catch a glimpse.

RusFurrence 2014 • Highlights

(photos are annotated with descriptions, for those interested in the saucy details!)

I love you all!

Memories of #RusFurrence: during Fox Amoore's charity concert (guest starring yours truly) this young man requested he play 'something romantic' for his girl. After some cajoling the couple agreed to dance on stage, to roaring applause.