BELLE OF THE BALL

One, two, three … one, two, three … feet together, then twirl

I am 30 minutes into a private waltz lesson with the debonair Thomas Schäfer-Elmayer, head of Vienna’s legendary Elmayer Dance School, founded in 1919. It seems I have two left feet as I watch others glide effortlessly around the herringbone wood dance floor in the small historic studio. On the busiest days, up to 600 dance students of all ages learn how to waltz here in preparation for Vienna’s hectic ball season.

Herr Schäfer-Elmayer, who is in his 70s, returned as the third-generation of this family business in 1987, after a distinguished “The waltz is an extremely easy dance,” he explains. “It’s just practise. You don’t even need a partner for that; you just do the steps a little bit faster and faster and faster. In the beginning, you may become dizzy from time to time, but a quick turn to the other direction, and it’s gone.”