Polyball 2008

_MAL3800, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Last night I attended the 2008 Polyball, a big fancy dress ball put on by the technical university ETH here in Zürich. Thousands of guests were there—it was by far the grandest ball I’ve ever attended. There were many live bands playing: an orchestra playing waltzes in the main hall, a big band playing swing and foxtrot tunes in the sports hall, and a terrific Latin band playing in a vast, open foyer flanked by stairs with large landings.

I went alone but that didn't prevent me from dancing. I met several nice people through the course of the evening, including a group of architecture students including Tian, Sara, Nicholas, Christian, and Johanna. Tien and I danced a bunch of dances together including several waltzes. The experience reminded me that I need to take a Viennese Waltz refresher course! Sara is from Denmark and her mom lives in Stockholm, so we had a lot to talk about.

On the salsa dance floor, I met political science student named Elisa. She hails from the the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, and was a terrific dancer. We had an absolute blast dancing together.

Despite the crowds, I somehow managed to bump into people I knew at the ball. After a few hours, I ran into Anke and Rupert, whom I knew would be there. I danced many fun dances with Anke, and spent a good deal of time hanging out with her, Rupert, and their friends.

Later in the evening, I saw several colleagues from IBM there too, including Tatiana, Luc, Samuel, and Conrad. Conrad and his date both come from Sweden, so I took advantage of the opportunity to speak a bit of Swedish with them.

Near the end of the evening (around 4:30!) I met an education student from Bern named Maria. She was a relatively new dancer, but was lots of fun to dance with.

The Polyball was a lot of fun and I can recommend it to anyone who loves dancing. Last night reminded me that I’m suffering from dance-abstinence. Bitten once more by the dance bug, I know I’ll return to the dance floor soon.