Dance me, Vienna

Vienna in winter! “What in the world can one do,” I asked, when the invite came from the Vienna Tourist Board. “Have a ball,” was the reply. And that’s literally what we did.

January to March is peak ball season in the Austrian capital, and you literally waltz into another era — one in which dancing was the biggest form of entertainment. It still keeps the Viennese warm when the temperatures are in the minuses. The invite was for the Kaffeesieder Ball (the Coffee House owners’ ball), among the most atmospheric in the city and held at the majestic Imperial Hofburg Palace. We would arrive in a horse-drawn carriage, the invite said.

I was charmed. The only catch: The dress code insisted on full-length evening gowns for women and tuxedos for men. Can I wear a sari, I queried. You can always rent a gown, said my hosts. That’s what most tourists, and many locals, do — dress shopping is part of the whole ball-going experience.

Since I didn’t quite trust western showrooms to manage my size, I decided to trawl through online retailers Myntra and Lime Road. To my delight there were evening gowns aplenty and, thanks to Christmas sales, the price seemed to be a quarter of what my hosts had said the Vienna rentals would be.

Theoretically, all you need to attend a ball in Vienna is a ticket, and make sure you have the right attire. But other preparations are in order too. For starters, it is good to know some dance steps, and the local traditions. On day one of our visit, we were given a short historical tour of Viennese ball traditions. Our guide Alexa led us through the heart of the city, pointing out various important halls where famous balls were held. Located in the heart of Europe, and a gateway to the eastern and western parts of the continent, Vienna was always important culturally — but balls became really popular here during 1814/15 in the wake of the French emperor Napoleon’s defeat, with royals from all over Europe thronging the capital of the Habsburg monarchy. The tradition of balls survived in Vienna, even as it faded elsewhere in Europe. Except, they are now egalitarian — anybody can buy a ticket and attend, and it’s a major winter tourist draw.

Show me the moves Ball goers keep step at the Elmayer dance school in Vienna wientourismus/ rainer fehringer   -  Wientourismus/ Rainer Fehringer

There are more than 450 to choose from during the season — although Ash Wednesday is the cut-off date normally, the balls sometimes carry on well into spring, Alexa said. Anybody can host one, and nearly every organisation in the city — lawyers’ body, scientists’ guild, the Red Cross, the Opera House — does. Some are classical events with strict dress codes (the strictest being the Opera ball), others thrown by local bigwigs are more informal. The most fun one, everyone told us, was the Rainbow Ball for gay, lesbian and transgender community.

Ticket prices range from €20-25 for the school balls (which, too, anyone can attend) to €200. The most expensive — the Opera ball — cost €290 this year.

After the city tour, we headed to Vondru, the evening gown rental shop. We had fun trying on dresses and preening like princesses. The seamstresses wove magic — a tuck here, a pin there and, voilà! the gowns were fitting us. A wine-coloured outfit pleased me the most — however, not too confident about carrying off the plunging neckline and halter neck, I decided to stick to my demure Myntra gown.

Next morning we set off early for our dancing lesson at the famous generations-old Elmayer School. Legend has it that the founding Elmayer was a trusted military aide in the Habsburg palace but had to find another occupation when the royalty waned. He then started etiquette and dancing classes. The current Elmayer — Thomas Schafer-Elmayer — a charming silver-haired man, had us dancing to his tune in no time. The basic Viennese waltz, with its three steps, was easy enough but the quadrille — which involves groups moving back and forth, crossing sides and exchanging partners — defeated us. Elmayer reassured us, saying the quadrille only starts at midnight, by which time people have imbibed too much sparkling wine and cause chaos on the dance floor.

True enough, at the ball, the hapless choreographer was shouting instructions incessantly, but the dancers were gloriously out of step — some even galloping around the hall. It was hysterical to behold.

But I am getting ahead of the story. You can make your Viennese ball experience as grand or as simple as you wish, depending on your wallet. In our case, the Vienna Tourist Board had gone the whole hog, throwing in dancing lessons, dress rentals, a make-up session before the ball, a pre-ball dinner, a horse-drawn carriage as well as a booked table at the venue. Only a few do so — most stand it out or move into other halls for refreshments.

This year, the Kaffeesieder Ball, which started at 9 pm, sold over 5,000 tickets, we were told. We found a fair number of ball goers at the restaurant at Park Hyatt, where we enjoyed a delightful four-course meal before setting forth in our horse-drawn carriage to the Imperial Palace.

Entering the grand staircase of the palace hall was the stuff of Regency novels — ushers handed us lovely fans (remember how the Victorian ladies put the fan to good use to flirt or give a set-down) and a copy of the programme. The start was truly stately — to the strains of Strauss, the opening dancers (trained by the Elmayer school) glided in and performed a truly memorable waltz. The women looked lovely in white and carried posies. This was followed by an artistic dance and an operatic dance. Only well past 10 pm did the announcer shout, ‘All Waltz’ to the strains of Strauss, whereupon everyone converged on the floor.

The festivities continued well past 3 am — if you are not into waltz, you can dance to pop music in other rooms. And part of the Viennese ball tradition is to go and have a sausage at street kiosks. So on ball nights, these kiosks are open till 5 am, serving champagne with sausage!

For Vienna, the balls are great money-spinners — apparently the average guest spends €270 on preparing for a ball. In 2016, Viennese ball season earned a whopping €131 million. While locals form 75 per cent of the ball crowd, in 2016 more than 55,000 tourists were in attendance. There’s nothing the city’s tourist officials would love more than to have more visitors put on their dancing shoes.

(The writer was in Vienna at the invitation of the Vienna Tourist Board)