A ninja draws his three-foot blade to challenge an aluminum foil knight to a duel — but a conga line of princesses and pirates interrupts their battle.

Bigfork Elementary School’s cafeteria was packed from wall to wall with more than 400 costumed guests for the school’s first Fairy Tale Ball recently.

A chocolate fountain and buffet of cookies, cake and snacks combined with Bigfork High School student Tyler Iverson’s skills as DJ kept ogres and royalty moving on the dance floor.

Albert Einstein’s quote hung overhead: “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”

That was Bigfork music and art teacher Heather Epperly’s plan: Combine art and music with fairy tales and then turn it into something for the entire family.

“Fairy tales are something that used to be told and handed down from parent to child, and those have kind of gone by the wayside for some families,” Epperly said.

Early in January, Epperly started teaching her students classic, African and Japanese fairy tales and the art and music to go with them while the PTA organized the refreshments.

She had her students make art decorations inspired by the fairy tales they read while also learning about baroque music, African drumming and Japanese music. Epperly even taught the students how to dance and made a rule that if asked to dance, they had to agree.

She said the goal was to bring back the days of father-daughter and mother-son dancing and bring the students and their families together.

But the night wasn’t limited to Bigfork’s youngest students. Some high school students got involved and teachers also came in costume.

“Some of the cheerleaders said it was better than prom,” Epperly said.

The following morning Epperly said she had received hundreds of hugs from students thanking her and parents looking forward to next year’s ball.

Principal Matt Jensen said emails were pouring in with positive feedback from parents before the school day even started.

“It was awesome, a great night to see so many kids and their families show up and smile and have fun,” Jensen said. “I’m grateful for Heather, for pouring her passion into everything she does.”