- Thursday evening in Vienna, two young dancers will refresh the label of the Opera ball by dancing a waltz between women for the first time in the history of this event.
- This very technical dance has specific codes, be it postures, clothes or balls in which it is practiced.
- But a wind of modernity blows on the waltz lessons and its learning, illustrated in particular by the show Dance with the stars .
"At the first time of the waltz, All alone you already smile, At the first time of the waltz, I am alone but I see you. In 1959, Jacques Brel was already looking for his waltz partner. In 2020, Thursday February 20, the Opera Ball, a prestigious Viennese event, will be opened for the first time by a same-sex couple. "It's the ball, and we said to ourselves:" Let’s imagine that we send an application "," tells AFP Iris Klopfer, who arrived in Vienna with her partner, Sophie Grau, for the rehearsals preceding the big evening.
Originally from Germany, the 21 and 22 year old students have been accomplices since their high school years, but are in a relationship only on the dance floors and not in life. "What we wanted at the start was just to dance here, nothing more," says Sophie Grau. But the two elected also want to say "that what you have in the pants does not matter, any more than the body in which you were born".
The right choice of guide
The organizers of the ball ensure that they have not given any freehand to the dancers, nor modified the selection criteria which include a mastery of the waltz on the left, called "Viennese waltz", with his crossed leg. Make no mistake, this dance is very technical, even physical: “You have to wear your partner, have them arched. The person who will guide must have enough strength ”, observes David Issaly, founder of Danse tous styles, which employs 42 teachers throughout France, for birthdays, ball openings, etc., and weddings.
“For gay weddings, the choice of guide is quite natural at the first lesson, and not always according to the idea of departure of the couple. It can even change along the way. Moreover, when a woman who dances well finds herself with a more amateur partner, often, intuitively, she begins to guide. "
"Everyone can learn to guide and everyone can learn to be guided, observes, for its part, Sophie Grauer. The important thing is the pleasure we experience dancing together. But going beyond tradition still has its limits. Maria Grossbauer, coordinator of the Vienna Opera Ball, explains to her great relief that Iris and Sophie "themselves wanted one of the ladies to wear a black frock and the other lady to wear a white dress", dress code essential to the visual harmony of the choreography performed by the 144 couples.
Looking outward so as not to see the faces
On the site of the Parisian ball, the Viennese ball organized each year in Paris, the business gets worse. Participants who wish to take courses before the event are informed that “applications are obviously validated on the basis of parity. If you can convince a person of the opposite sex to apply, your candidacy is likely to be retained by passing the candidacies alone. We especially encourage the riders to increase their chances by recruiting riders around her. We are therefore far from the image of a same-sex couple dancing the waltz…
“Balls have always been very codified, especially in waltz, we are in a Second Empire posture, underlines David Issaly. At the time, this dance was very innovative, however: you could dance with a partner other than your wife, which explains why everyone has to look outwards, over their partner's right shoulder. "Most professionals finally agree on the fact that traditional dances must be modernized to attract young people:" We are in 2020. Iris and Sophie are welcome, as all couples are ", thinks Grossbauer.
Find a dance partner on Tinder
“You only have to watch the show Dance with the stars, where the waltz is practiced on commercial and current music [Sami El Gueddari and Fauve Hautot danced a Viennese waltz on Je t'aime , by Lara Fabian , in 2019], and that is surely what made the program successful. That the dance is renewed according to the evolutions of the society, it is a good thing. It must appeal to the thirties, "said David Issaly. A couple of men also won the competition for the first time in December 2019 in its Danish edition. Not on a waltz, but it could be a next step. The director of the Vienna Opera, Dominique Meyer, sees in the couple the dancers who open the ball on Thursday evening "a clear message against homophobia".
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Stort tillykke, Jakob og Silas ⭐️ 📸Foto: Henrik Ohsten # vmd19 #vildmeddans
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Either way, there are always solutions for those looking for a dance partner. And for Angèle, it's all found: “I signed up on Tinder explaining that I was looking for a partner for a lindy hop class. And it worked ! We still dance together, even if, during the lessons, it turns very often, and the men can put themselves in followers. Another solution had been found by the Sleeping Beauty: waltzing with the animals of the forest.
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- Culture
- Dance
- Vienna (Austria)
- Dance with the stars