The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-10-05
DANCING IN VIENNA.
The Music Never Stops, and People
Waits All the Time.

Waits All the Time.
When the fasching Is In full and
orthodox swing in Vienna, balls take
place every evening in the dozen or
SO Of big and small halls available for
societies and charities. The favorite
hall is the Sofensal, which is swim
ming bath in summer. For the &C.
casion it is fioored with parQuet and
decked with palms.
There are always two when not
three bands, and as soon as one leaves
off the other takes up the waltz. II it
does not, the public wants to know the
reason why and Immediately begins
to demonstrate with hand and voice.
The chaperons sit around in solemn
state, and the men congregate in the
middle of the floor, forming what is
technically called the herren insel. or
mems island. From this position of
vantage they swoOp down on any part
ner who weakens for a moment and
carry her off. There is no such thing
as being engaged for a dance-indeed.
dance, the whole evening being one
large dance, except for the supper
break At the charity ball or frauen-
helm. for instance, there will be about
1000 present, and as the men are in
good training none Of them is long
without spin.
The crush is tremendous, Of course,
but the Vienna dancer, male or other,
cares little for hard knocks and, being
determined to get around the room,
manages to do it somehow or other,
though to a stranger the task looks
impossible.
There is not much ceremony about
intrOductions. Two strange men will
come up and with grave politeness in
troduce each other to a lady whom
neither of them knows. The lady may
please herself, of course, as to whether
she dances with him or not. In any
case, the acquaintance begins, and
often ends, with turn. 1t is not even
necessary to be two. One dancer
sometimes makes bold to approach, and
is Norval and that he is a lawyer, or
something else, and may he have the
honor Of q waltz? Since the idea is
simply to have a partner and nothing
is further from his thoughts than to be
uncivil, he generally gets his way.
In ball like this there is little favor,
and the prettiest and smartest girls are
not much better off than their less at
tractive sisters. While the dowagers
are in splendid robes, the dancing con-
tingent are, as a rule, rather simply
dressed and short skirted, or else they
have an arrangement whereby they
gather up all their drapery in one hand,
so that they may succeed in keeping
it on their persons. Nevertheless to-
ward the small hours the damage is
universal.
The Vienna belle may not go to as
many balls, perhaps, as her English
sister, but she certainly dances a good
many more kilometers in the course of
her season. The Vienna balls begin,
as rule, pretty sharply at g.. and,
with an hour or so for supper, the
Waiting goes on till 3. The most en-
thusiastic will not go away much be-
fore 5, but the officers cannot often
stay to the end, and when the lieuten-
ants depart the glory departs with
them. Six hours, almost without a
pause, is a very respectable athletic
performance, and many of the ladies
will nevertheless be seen on the ice
the next afternoon still waltzing.-
London Graphic.