Every January, the Viennese Opera Ball is held in the grand ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria here in New York. It is a charity ball to celebrate opera and the arts related to the Vienna Opera Ball in Austria, and is attended by dignitaries, ambassadors, and lots of incredibly wealthy people. Tickets start at $750 per person, but if you want to sit at a table and eat dinner, that jumps to $2,500 per couple, or as high as $25,000 for a table. Of course, you get a seven course meal and performances from opera soloists from the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Symphony Orchestra, and a group of professional Viennese Waltz dancers. Cocktails are at 8pm, dinner at 9pm. Dancing goes until 1am when the ballroom closes and the attendees retire to three salons--each with its own string quartet, naturally--to spend the rest of the night socializing until around 4am. Dress is strictly white tie and decorations for men and long ball gowns for women.
On Saturday, my ballroom partner and I auditioned for a spot with the V-Waltz group and were accepted! She will be provided with a ball gown, and I a proper white tie and tuxedo with coat-tails. (It has always been a dream of mine to dance in a fancy ballroom to a live orchestra in tails.) We get dinner, dancing, and all of this for a mere three-minute performance. Can it truly be real? I'm still trying to convince myself that it's actually true.
Oh, and per years of tradition, there will be a parade of debutantes making their societal debut and dancing the Polonaise. In other words, lots of very wealthy girls my age....
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4 comments:
Congratulations! You've finally made it! You're living the American dream, selling your services to those who have more than enough money to pay for them...wait, isn't that like prostitution? Andrew, are you a prostitute for the rich? Hey! That's a great place to start!
It's going to be surreal!! I'm going to have to find a way to keep your paws off those poor young girls, though. Maybe I'll go around and warn their mothers of the dangerously charming astrophysicist on the prowl... or better yet, they might have sons… = D
Congratulations! You both must be one heck of a dancing pair to get such a distinguished position. I want tons of pictures and videos and a full report when it's over. I must say, I agree with elphie about warning the young ladies about the dangerously charming astrophysicist, these debutants won't know how to handle a guy like you! Enjoy every second of the night, you two have earned it.
I just found this while trying to find your mailing address (I lost it...again). (That, and my overuse of parenthases, should be sufficient info to know who "anonymous" is.) Some of your entries have made me laugh, while others have made me tear up a bit. I am so proud of your dancing, your research, and everything else about you. Even so, I really enjoy Marina's recasting of you as a prostitute. ;)
NSLT.
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