Dances, dances, dances!

The Viennese Opera Ball was the conclusion of a season of balls that featured over 10 events. This is quite a high number for a country where ball traditions were revived relatively recently. The greatest ball of the season takes place with the assistance of the City Council of Vienna, the fatherland of opera balls. Denys Kunin, the head of the National Ball Committee, explained that Viennese opera balls are held under Viennese license. Besides the Austrian and Ukrainian capitals, opera balls are held only in Paris and New York, while Viennese non-opera balls are held in Moscow, the United Arab Emirates, and New York.

This year the most glamorous dancing event held at the National Opera was attended by politicians, diplomats, public figures, businessmen, and people from the world of show business, who shelled out between 500 and 2,500 hryvnias for a ticket. Some tickets were distributed through booking offices, while some were distributed free to certain guests. The organizing committee is trying to keep pace with European traditions by inviting leading politicians and businessmen. The organizers said that the tickets slated for sale were bought very quickly. They were sold out four days before the ball, and the first tickets were booked in March.

This glamorous annual event requires lavish clothing, a certain mode of behaviour, and - most importantly - dancing skills. “One should learn how to walk, talk, and dance before going to a ball,” said the producer-general of Ukrainian Fashion Week Volodymyr Nechyporuk. The theater’s lobby and halls were filled with many famous people: men wearing tails and bow-ties and women wearing long evening or ball dresses.

“Young people should get accustomed to this type of ball. Spirituality and inspiration are the key words here. In a word, the high life,” said actress Olha Sumska, who attended the ball with her mother, aunt, and her daughter and her escort.

Some people view the Viennese ball from the global perspective. “We believe that the Viennese Ball, as well as other European gatherings of this kind, demonstrates the features of democracy and European living standards, which generally have an impact on the country’s state of affairs,” said the director-general of Ukraine’s National Opera Petro Chupryna.

The event was organized by professionals: nearly 1,000 people were involved. Two orchestras accompanied the dancing program: the Merited Academic Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine’s Radio Company and Kyiv’s Academic Municipal Brass Band.

The ball followed the classical scenario: the dance program (debutants’ polonaise, waltzes, foxtrots, polkas) alternated with demonstration performances by professionals. The beau monde danced the final waltz at 4:00 a.m. Hryhorii Chapkis, who has become the ball’s traditional dance-master, happily noted that today’s young people are becoming more interested in dancing.

In addition to being a high- society event, the 2007 Viennese Opera Ball had a charitable mission. The organizers arranged a lottery and an auction. All the proceeds will go to helping creatively gifted children.