Why do so many young Austrians learn how to waltz and long to be debutantes at the Vienna Opera Ball? Euromaxx steps into the world of the Viennese waltz.
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00:00Vienna, a city synonymous with classical music, the Viennese waltz and opulent balls.
00:07More than 450 balls take place here each year.
00:11The highlight of the season is the Vienna Opera Ball.
00:14But more about that later.
00:15For Austrians, the waltz is more than just a dance.
00:19It's a profound part of their cultural identity and history.
00:22I'm Anusha Abed and coming from Pakistan, the waltz culture feels something like out
00:26of a novel to me.
00:28But for most Austrians, it's a lifelong tradition.
00:33It's part of our DNA.
00:36I mean, we are waltzing all the time, drunk, not drunk, young, old.
00:42Everywhere you go, especially during ball season, it's everywhere.
00:46I can't imagine my life without the waltz because I've danced it many times and I really
00:51do enjoy to dance it.
00:52It's a dance that everybody who is Austrian should know.
00:56So why are so many Austrians passionate about the waltz?
00:59And does the younger generation share the same sentiment?
01:03And what does this guy have to do with it?
01:06Let's find out.
01:08I started at the House of Strauss Museum to learn about the man who composed Vienna's
01:12famous waltzes, Johann Strauss II.
01:16Born on the city's outskirts, he wrote more than 500 pieces of dance music.
01:22His father, also named Johann Strauss, was a composer too.
01:27But it was Johann Strauss II who became known as the waltz king.
01:31And this is his great-great-nephew, Dr. Edward Strauss.
01:34Johann Strauss II was a brilliant musician and he composed music which goes to the heart,
01:45goes to the heart of everybody.
01:48The waltz originally developed from a folk dance called the LĂ€ndler, which was sneered
01:53at by Austria's upper class.
01:56It was during his and his father's time that the waltz transitioned from a peasant dance
02:00to an internationally celebrated, sophisticated art form.
02:05Strauss's waltz, the Blue Danube, is one of the most iconic melodies of the 19th century.
02:13I also gave it a whirl, but think I'd better leave the dancing to others for now.
02:20In the 1870s, waltz fever broke out in the US.
02:23In Boston, Strauss conducted an orchestra with over 1,000 musicians.
02:27Today, some experts claim Strauss was the world's first pop star.
02:33My next stop is the Vienna State Opera, to find out whether young people still love to
02:38waltz.
02:39Since 1935, one of Austria's most famous and glamorous events has been held here, the
02:44Vienna Opera Ball.
02:46Each year, some 160 couples are picked to open the ball, dancing to a set choreography.
02:53Taking part in this year's opera ball were Emilie Röschling and Paul Schöckner.
02:58I met the couple ahead of their big debut, but we'll come back to it later.
03:06Here they'd just finished a six-hour long rehearsal for the ball.
03:10So how was your training?
03:12It went well, yeah.
03:13It was very exciting and exhausting.
03:15Yeah, exhausting as well, but it was fun.
03:18To be chosen as debutants, Paul and Emilie had to do much more than just register.
03:23They had to submit their CVs, audition, and attend rehearsals.
03:29When you grow up in Vienna, you grow up hearing about the opera ball, you watch it on TV,
03:34everything.
03:36It's really cool.
03:37And then when you start dancing and you start opening balls, I think it is a goal to do
03:40it.
03:41At least for me, it was a goal.
03:42For me also.
03:43Yeah.
03:44It's one of the biggest in Vienna, so it's definitely a goal.
03:48So it's also for us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to engage in the circle.
03:54Paul and Emilie might be done with their official opera ball rehearsal, but their day isn't
03:58over yet.
03:59At their dance school, they have a rehearsal for another ball.
04:06In Vienna, almost everyone who can afford it attends a dance school to learn how to
04:10waltz.
04:11Since the 19th century, the ball season has been an important part of Austrian culture.
04:16It begins in November with Carnival and runs well into February.
04:21Thomas SchÀfer-Elmayer is a well-known Viennese dance instructor and etiquette expert.
04:26He's been preparing debutants for the Vienna Opera Ball for decades, and he says the number
04:31of registrations just keeps growing.
04:33The new generation is very much interested in waltz and in our dancing traditions here
04:40and also our ball traditions.
04:42It seems that it is growing, actually, the interest, dramatically growing the interest.
04:48Do you think the Viennese waltz today is similar to the one that was introduced long back ago?
04:53Viennese waltz developed from the Landler, so it's a folk dance originally, and it was
05:00also danced more open, not as close as we're doing nowadays.
05:06When the waltz was introduced, many conservatives considered it scandalous because the couples
05:11danced closely with one another.
05:13But this changed during Johann Strauss II's day.
05:20From that time on, it really developed an enormous popularity in not only in Austria,
05:29but also in many other countries.
05:33Now, 200 years later, young Austrians like Paul and Emily continue to dance to Johann
05:38Strauss II's iconic tunes.
05:41Wait, did you think I'd leave without showing you Paul and Emily dancing at the Vienna Opera
05:45Ball?
05:46I couldn't be there to see them myself, but they sent this video.
05:50Just two of the many young people carrying on the tradition of the Viennese waltz and
05:54the legacy of Johann Strauss II.