A few weeks ago one of my students handed me little pamphlet as I was exiting the teachers room, saying, "Here is an invitation to our Prom. I hope you can come!" Naturally, I was incredibly curious about what an Austrian Prom is like, especially a Prom to which teachers are invited. And not just teachers; the Austrian "Schulball"is an event put on by the school to which students, alumni, teachers, parents, and community members are all invited! So wipe your brain of all pre-existing notions of what "prom" is like, and I'll tell you what my experience was.
Naturally I didn't want to fly solo at an event like this, so my friends Michelle and Annie graciously agreed to come as my dates for the evening! The attire was much more fancy than any dance at a US High School. Basically everyone was dressed in floor-length gowns or the male equivalent. The theme was "Ein Sommernachtstraum" (A Summer Night's Dream) so the town community center, where the ball was held, was beautifully decorated with twinkle lights, tissue paper flowers, silver and gold leaves, and vines. There was one large room with the stage and dance floor, but the dancing area was quite small because most of the room was taken up by tables. When you buy your ticket for the ball, you have the option of reserving a table as well and most people do so. Already this is sounding very different from your typical prom. There were TWO bars, one with beer and wine and the other with hard alcohol, and there were waiters who would come around to the tables and take orders (of course there was a wristband system for ordering drinks, but since the drinking age is 16, most of the students were old enough for the bar anyway!) There was also a limited but impressive food menu for people to order.
The ball was officially opened by a presentation of "debutantes," just like the traditional Viennese Ball I went to in January. There were about 10 female students in white dresses, escorted by adorably dapper male students in tuxes. They did a very formal choreographed dance, then there were speeches by the principal, mayor, and other official people, and then the debutantes and their escorts opened the ball with the first waltz. Remember, these are 15-18 year olds doing this very formal performance. Some of my favorite students were out there on the dance floor and I felt like such a proud mama watching them look so beautiful and classy!
The rest of the night went on in a similarly classy fashion. There was a band that played a mix of waltzes, salsas, tangos, swing, and traditional austrian music (we Americans were pleased to hear a little Frank Sinatra and Beach Boys thrown in there), and to my surprise, many of the students continued with the formal partner dancing...and they were so good at it!! And the best part of it all was that they were dancing amongst parents, community members, and teachers. Everyone was hanging out together and having a grand old time! It was so fun to witness. Annie, Michelle, and I discussed what the reaction would be if you brought the average American high school student into this atmosphere. I think they would be confused and weirded out and they would definitely make fun of all the couples waltzing and tangoing together! They'd be like "where's the bump and grind?" We also decided that if our high school dances were like this, we would have had way more fun.
Another funny part of the evening was when we discovered this secret room off the side of the main hall, where a bunch of boys were huddled together, watching something projected on the wall. Turns out it was the Champions League Final! The smart Ball-planners realized that they had scheduled their ball on the same night as the biggest club football event of the year (especially this year with two German teams in the final), and decided to be prepared with a projector and laptop to live stream the game. I imagine this kind of thing would happen if the Super Bowl took place on Prom Night. It was cute to see all the kids in their tuxes and dresses anxiously watching a soccer match!
The ball went on until 3 AM but we definitely did not make it that long. Instead, we stayed until midnight, when the raffle prizes and Ball King and Queen were announced (turns out they were already a couple...dawww). The best part of the midnight show, however, was the teacher performance. All the teachers came out in bizarre costumes and did an impromptu Harlem Shake, and then ran out and pulled students onto the floor for a massive one-song dance party. It. was. awesome. Have I mentioned how much I love this school???
All in all, the night was really fun. It was great seeing all my students all dolled up and coupled off--I definitely was really excited when I figured out two of my favorite students, who are in different classes, are a couple. It was certainly a prime night for teacher gossip, and just an all around fun, classy, beautiful event! If Woodbridge High School's dances had been anything like this, I definitely would have gone to more of them! Well done, Austria. Well done.
No comments:
Post a Comment