Viennese Dance – From Johann Strauss to Contemporary Choreography

With the death of Beethoven and Schubert began a new era of music in Vienna. Thanks to the Strauss dynasty, it was characterised by lots of momentum. Johann (also called „Schani“) Strauss composed his first waltz at the age of six, and once he took over his father’s post as leader of his own band, he rapidly gained fame at home and abroad. As of 1863, he was leading all court balls, and a new era in Vienna’s dance history began. What is so special about the Viennese Waltz that in 2017 it was declared an Intangible World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO?

The Viennese Waltz was regarded as vulgar and was generally prohibited for the upper classes until the Wiener Kongress (1815), as it was developed from an old dance beloved by the lower ranks of society. It was only much later that the increasing importance of the bourgeoisie, greater respect for the arts at Vienna‘s salons, the establishment of court balls and a new Vienna without its city walls paved the way for a spirited new epoch: the “Gründerzeit.”

Johann Strauss Son was married three times, and all three marriages remained childless. In 1899, Johann Strauss died of pneumonia in Vienna. The funeral procession led past his workplaces: the Theater an der Wien, the Vienna State Opera and the Musikverein – to his last resting place at the Vienna Central Cemetery. The newspaper „Neue Freie Wiener Presse,“ named many renowned artists and colleagues who were part of the procession, including Ludwig Bösendorfer, Gustav Mahler and Hermann Bahr.

Strauss’ legacy: more than 500 waltzes, quadrilles, marches and polkas, one ballet and 15 operettas. The music of Johann Strauss proved to be immortal in Vienna and is a ubiquitous part of city life even today. The Viennese Operetta is now mainly performed at the Wiener Volksoper.

Over 300 balls are listed in Vienna’s ball calendar every season and Vienna‘s dance schools teach their students to waltz over the parquet floors in three-quarter time as if „Schani“ himself were holding the baton.

Childhood dreams often circle around a prima ballerina and romantic dance stories. At the Vienna State Ballet, one can experience this dream firsthand and in absolute perfection.

103 dancers are part of this renowned, world-famous dance institution: The Vienna State Ballet dances and rehearses on its two main stages - the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Volksoper – and tours the world with guest performances. The repertoire ranges from classic evening performances to avant-garde masterpieces, musicals, operettas as well as dance performances during the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Vienna Opera Ball.

Founded in Vienna, this festival is among the largest dance events in Europe and not only offers unique performances but a series of outstanding dance workshops which have gained a worldwide reputation with their international cast and focus on new talent.

Every year, more than 250 workshops cover all facets of dance. The festival is a spinoff of the Wiener Tanzwochen, which were founded in 1984. Since 1990, ImPulsTanz has featured performances by international dancers on many of Vienna’s stages, museums, studios and cultural centres from mid-July until mid-August. Since 2001, outdoor events, such as the Open-Air Dance Event on the MuseumsQuartier's main square, have been especially exciting and popular. All this makes ImPulsTanz one of the world’s biggest and most important festivals for contemporary dance and choreography.