Why the fascination with the Viennese waltz?

DW (English)

Why do so many young Austrians learn how to waltz and long to be debutantes at the Vienna Opera Ball? DW steps into the world of the Viennese waltz.

Transcript

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 Ländler, 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 Schäfer-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.

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