My First Ball!

My date!

I had the pleasure of attending my first ball last Saturday. Before I moved here, I was sort of under the impression that balls were events attended only by fictional Disney princesses and Barbies, not real people, at least not in today's modern times.

But I was wrong. Balls are alive and well here, and hundreds of them take place here in the Winter season before Lent. There is a ball for pretty much every societal organization. Of course, one of the most famous Viennese balls is the Vienna Opera Ball, where they clear out the state opera auditorium and build a special dance floor just for the event. I think we all remember that Paris Hilton attended that one last year, haha! There is also one in the Hofburg palace. Now, I didn't go to the Opera or Imperial Palace ball, but the one I attended was pretty fun! It was a ball put on by the 9th district chapter of the Kolpinghaus, a Catholic charitable organization in Austria. I think they have a branch in the United States, too.

This one isn't as formal as some of the fanciest ones, but people still got pretty dressed up. Many of the women wore floor-length ball gowns, and all of the men wore three-piece suits. I didn't have a ball gown, nor time to rent one, and not a lot of money, so I had to bargain-shop at the last minute for something remotely suitable. I think I did OK; it probably would have been nice if I'd had a floor-length dress like most of the other women, but I didn't feel oddly out of place or anything. I ended up wearing a black taffeta fishtail skirt that was a bit past knee-length with a gold, sparkly sweater, all of which I found on sale.

Champagne is definitely the drink of the evening. I had so much champagne I think I lost count. Georg and I definitely had hangovers the next day. We had a little champagne at Georg's parents' apartment before we left (where I took the cute little photo above of Georg) and much more at the actual ball.

The focus of the ball is definitely on dancing (obviously). Shortly after we arrived, some members of the organization did a really cute choreographed dance. Afterwards, some professional dancers came and did a dance with many acrobatic steps. It was really fun to watch. Then the dance floor was free for the ball-goers to dance, and the night was punctuated by more choreographed amateur dances and professional dances. I actually did dance a few times (gasp, I know), once with Georg's friend Walter (who was a very good leader, by the way, and maybe, at least partially, saved me from looking like a fool) and again in the upstairs "disco" room when I'd had way too much champagne. Yeah, if I start dancing, it's pretty much conclusive that I've over imbibed, haha.

Anyway, here's Georg and his mom dancing:
And Georg's parents:
The theme of the ball was Rock, Rock, Rococo, so one of the choreographed dances included people dressed up in Rococo fashions. I loved that huge white Afro puff wig! I wished it had been me wearing it. Haha!
After midnight, they opened a champagne room, or a sekt bar, as they were calling it. It was just as the name implies, a bunch of people in a room drinking champagne.
This picture's from the champagne room, too...

And that's it! What a fun time. I hope everyone else had a good weekend as well!