Tiaras, wurst and protesters
Black tie and satin gowns. Horse-drawn carriages. Waltzes, cha-chas and tangos until the wee hours. High-society revelers scarfing down Wiener wurst. And now, police blockades and marching protesters. This is peak ball season in Vienna, 2018. A tradition deeply embedded in the Viennese soul, the formal dance events of the ball season are held by the city’s professional guilds, political parties and universities from November until Lent, with the highest concentration of parties from early January until the end of February.
Many are stiff high-society affairs, such as the New Year’s Ball and the Opera Ball — the “official ball of the Federal Republic of Austria,” which dates in its various forms to the 1800s.
Others, such as the Confectioners’ Ball and Flower Ball, are as formal but attended by a wider audience.
A political subtext often lurks behind the dazzling scenes, but this year’s season has proved especially fraught. On Jan. 26, around 3,000 police officers blocked off a broad section of the city centre to prevent protesters from clashing with members of the right-wing Freedom Party, who were attending the Academics’ Ball in the former imperial palace.
The Vienna faction of the party, which returned to government last year, has sponsored the Academics’ Ball since 2013. Outside the venue, 8,000 to 10,000 protesters marched through the streets, carrying banners and signs saying “Resistance” and “Don’t Allow Nazis to Govern.”
The night after the Academics’ Ball, more than 3,000 guests attended the Vienna Ball of Sciences, which was founded in 2015 in part as a “counter ball” to the Academics’ Ball, in a subtle protest by university rectors and scientists.
The original idea for the ball came from scientists’ irritation at the right wing’s “hijacking” the reputation of education and research, said Oliver Lehmann, a co-chair of the Ball of Sciences’ organizing committee. He added, “We’re about diversity, openness and excellence.”
Case in point: Some of the women in attendance glided over the dance floors in floor-length saris or accessorized their gowns with matching hijabs.
At this time of year, women emerge from the city’s salons with elaborate coifs. Crash courses in ballroom dancing are booked to capacity. Tux rentals become scarce, though most locals own formal wear.
Most balls feature food stands in addition to booked table service, making a common sight of gown-clad guests dipping pairs of long sausages into mustard and horseradish — especially after the midnight quadrille, a co-ordinated dance that fills the ballroom.
At the Ball of Sciences, Caroline Weinberg, a national co-chair of the March for Science in Washington, was attending at the invitation of Lehmann, of the organizing committee. In the VIP area, she met Austrian scientists and politicians, and “talked politics in formal wear.” Could she waltz? Not as well as the locals. Yet the experience was remarkable nonetheless. “It was like walking into a time machine,” she marvelled. “I had this image in my head of what a Viennese waltz looks like, because I watched old movies.”
“I didn’t expect it to be like that,” she said. “But it was.”