Club gut geD-A-CHt Holds its First Viennese Ball

Ladies in ball gowns and gentlemen in suits, waltz and polonaise next to jazz and rock-and-roll — the Viennese ball, organized by HSE Club gut geD-A-CHt, was held at the German-Russian House in Moscow.

Ladies in ball gowns and gentlemen in suits, waltzes and polonaises next to jazz and rock-and-roll — the Viennese ball, organized by HSE Club gut geD-A-CHt, was held at the German-Russia House in Moscow.

‘Ladies and gentlemen! Today Vienna has come to Moscow for a day and brings us Austrian culture and traditions!’ — with these words, hosts of the event, Polina Isyanova and Vladimir Grigoriev opened the gala evening. About 70 students from Russia, Finland, the USA, Austria, Germany, Turkey and Italy took part in it.

However, the ball began not with dancing but with an interactive excursion around Vienna, in which HSE Philology students told the guests about Viennese cafes, Vienna’s musical history and the history of the Viennese ball itself. The guests were given a master class in the language of paper fans, as a ball has a special etiquette all of its own.

Angelina Nevrayeva and Konstantin Mazur from the sport dance club ‘Classic’ surprised the guests with a beautiful Viennese waltz and HSE law students Ksenia Kozhina and Nikita Popov, to end the formal part of the evening, taught all the guests to dance a merry gallop. The programme continued after that with jazz and rock-n-roll.

HSE students, guided by lecturers from the German department spent a lot of time and effort preparing musical and dance performances, compiling a playlist, organising rehearsals, working on the script for the event and choosing the decor for the hall.

Denis Merkulov, one of the ball organizers said: ‘I’m very pleased with how the Viennese ball went. We organized it all in a month. I took part in dance rehearsals, prepared the text for our virtual excursion around Viennese cafes and told everyone I know about the upcoming event. On the actual day first I worried about what might go wrong, but then I relaxed and felt sure that everything would go well - and it really did. I was very glad that my parents managed to visit the ball as guests. They liked it a lot even though they don’t speak German at all. The Viennese ball reminded me of  the joy of dancing I hadn’t felt since my school prom. I also tried myself as a German-speaking guide that turned out to be a new language experience for me. I would like to thank the club leaders Yulia Pasko, Evgeniya Uspenskaya and Anastasia Afonina for organizing the ball. Their talent  helped us to hold the club’s first (and maybe annual) Viennese ball. I hope next year I’ll  be sharing my impressions of our second event.’

‘I was so glad that everything went smoothly and the guests seemed to enjoy themselves, — said student Anastasia Sergeeva, who also took part in getting ready for the ball. — Now I’ve discovered that organising such a grand occasion with limited time and resources is both possible and easier than it seems, especially when you have such a wonderful team!’

‘I loved the ball, — said Annastacia Johnson, exchange student from the San Diego State University (USA). — Especially all the culture that was brought into the event. I as an American learned more about Germany and I am really glad that I did. I came to the ball with Sebastian Weißenböck, who is from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. We are very thankful for inviting us and letting us join the dances. We enjoyed every minute.’

The organizers would like to thank the International Union of German Culture for assistance in preparing and holding the ball, and the newspaper Read Square and the Moscow 24 channel for publicity and information support.