Ball Season

As I mentioned in my last entry, I went to two balls recently, both hosted at Vienna's Hofburg Palace. The first ball was sponsored by the BOKU, the environmental university with which I am affiliated. The second ball was sponsored by the Technische Universität (TU), Vienna's engineering university. My connection to the TU Ball is an interesting one. One of the chairs of Fulbright's alumni association teaches physical chemistry at the TU, while his wife (the other co-chair of the alumni association) is also one of the co-chairs for the TU Ball. Therefore, Fulbright organizes tickets, a table, and even waltzing lessons for those attending the TU Ball and consequently, many Fulbrighters pick this particular ball to attend.

Here is a group picture of the Fulbrighters at the TU Ball:



...and a better picture of me, where I'm not half hidden behind someone's shoulder:



Each ball features an official opening ceremony, which includes dancers from the host organization. The dancers must attend rigorous rehearsal sessions before they are even allowed to dance in the opening ceremony.



The opening ceremony, like any other ceremony, also features speech after speech after speech. One of the administrators from the TU mentioned in his speech a "Parallel- nicht Konkurrenzveranstaltung", a "parallel, not competing, event" on the same night as the TU Ball. He was referring to the infamous "Opera Ball", which has historically been accompanied by anti-fascist protests outside the opera house. The reasoning behind the protests is that the Opera Ball, attended typically by celebrities, politicians, and foreign dignitaries, is claimed to be a charity event. However, it is widely rumored that all of the proceeds (between 230 and 17000 Euros per ticket) actually end up in the bank account of organizer Richard Lugner. In any case, the TU administrator was correct; nobody attending the TU Ball would even consider going to the Opera Ball, and vice versa.

While the TU Ball was a classy formal affair, the BOKUball was by far the more fun and down-to-earth of the two. This was mainly because people attending the BOKUball had the option of dressing in evening wear or in "Tracht" (Dirndel, Lederhosen, and other traditional clothing). The TU Ball, on the other hand, set strict rules for evening attire; I actually heard of one man being refused entry because he was wearing a white tuxedo instead of a black one.

Nonetheless, both balls were a tremendous amount of fun and offered a glimpse of "high society" for a night. Now I just have to find other occasions to wear this dress!