Today in Foreign Policy x The Dial (new reporting)
Filtering the future of Europe through a uniquely Viennese tradition
Last week I wrote on the results of the EU parliamentary elections and the rise of the far-right in Europe. This week, I’m here to share a reported feature that touches on similar themes. It’s about Vienna’s annual carnival ball season, and it appears today in both Foreign Policy and The Dial.
Ball season? you ask.
Over 400 formal balls take place in Vienna each winter. In light of Austria’s own shift to the right, I was interested to know if this enduringly popular, imperial-era tradition feeds back into the same nostalgia that emboldens today’s far-right parties—or else exemplifies, by contrast, the capacity to update national traditions to keep pace with the times.
To find out—and to take the temperature of a fraught European moment—I interviewed government ministers, ball organizers, dance instructors, taxi drivers, hairdressers, protesters, tourism experts, and dozens of young debutantes about what the balls signify to them. And about their hopes and fears for Europe going forward.
I also danced the polka. I wore my wedding dress. You can read all about it here.
It’s one of my favorite pieces I’ve ever reported. Thanks for reading and sharing.
