The Ball as a Space for Social Communication and Business Networking
We live in a world where communication is rapidly moving online: letters are instant, meetings happen through gadgets, and likes shape reputation. It is easier to write a comment than to speak in person. Thus arises an era of digital loneliness, where real communication becomes a scarcity: speed has grown, but depth has vanished.
Where do true elites seek each other out today? Especially now, when the world is undergoing a global restructuring. How do the plots of big business unfold to the rhythm of a dance, how can an evening of dancing become a springboard for a career, and why does “high society” not mean “empty”; how has the international ball turned into a venue for global networking, and why do diplomats increasingly choose the parquet over protocol meetings?
Strangely enough, the answer is hidden in the past. For several centuries, it was precisely the high-society ball that served as the main platform for communication among the elite — where romances were born, political alliances were concluded, and the finest minds and talents of the age shone. Today this mechanism is working again.
From a German Village Game to the Ballrooms of World Capitals
People have always danced — since the times of primitive communities and ritual dances. The ball begins in Europe. At first, German girls would give a ball — Der Ball, stuffed with down or wool — to friends who had recently married, and the newlyweds in return held a festival of the same name, Der Ball, with dances and treats. The word “ball” itself comes from the Old French “baller”.
And the history of the ball as an organized event starts in France, in 1385, when King Charles VI held the first documented ball in Amiens on the occasion of his marriage to Isabeau of Bavaria. From that moment and for centuries, France became the trendsetter of ball traditions and ceremonials, and during the reign of the “Sun King” Louis XIV, Paris set the tone for the arrangement of balls and the choice of ball attire across all of Europe.
In 1715, public balls — Bal de l’Opéra — were first held at the Paris Opera, and the ball ceased to be an entertainment of aristocrats, which also affected the dances: the prim minuets yielded the palm to the galop, the cancan, and the quadrille.
After the French Revolution, Vienna became the capital of balls and the new trendsetter of fashion, and the king of dances became the waltz — Walzer (German walzen, “to spin,” “to revolve”). Born as a folk couple dance in the Austrian Alps, it transformed into the main and most scandalous dance of all balls. After the strict minuet or contredanse, it suggested the unthinkable! The gentleman and the lady not only did not keep their distance according to ceremony, but embraced closely, and the gentleman’s hand encircled the lady’s waist! And they spun — yes, yes, they spun in this close embrace in a common rhythm, barely catching their breath!
Needless to say, this “immoral” and “vulgar” dance became so alluring! The success of the waltz was inevitable. In 1814–1815, European diplomats who had gathered in Vienna for the Congress of Vienna unconditionally crowned the dance. To the sounds of the waltz, the fates of Europe were decided, and the congress itself went down in history not only as the most important political event following the Napoleonic invasion, but also as the “dancing congress”.
The victory of the waltz in its battle with conservative dances came to be regarded as one of the first applications of “soft” diplomacy, and the dance itself — largely thanks to the magical music of the Strauss father and son, which sounded everywhere from student parties to the most refined balls of high society — became a symbol of the era.
The Russian Style
The Russian ball, having absorbed the traditions and ceremonies of European events, nevertheless became a distinctive phenomenon. The starting point of the ball’s history in Russia is considered to be 1718, when Emperor Peter the Great decreed the holding of Assemblies — free gatherings where people could “see one another and discuss every need, and also hear what is being done where, and have amusement besides”. From here begins that very ball networking that would become one of the key formats of communication at modern balls.
The heyday of ball culture falls on the 18th–19th centuries. Both under Elizabeth Petrovna, who danced beautifully, and especially under Catherine the Great, Russian balls eclipsed the balls of Versailles and the Hofburg in splendor. The ability to dance was obligatory, just like knowledge of foreign languages. Children began to be taught to dance at the age of five or six, and were also taught to socialize and make useful acquaintances.
The last grand court ball in Russia took place in 1903, marking the 290th anniversary of the House of Romanov. It was the culmination of the ball culture of the Russian Empire. The idea of the ball arose from a dispute between two noblemen about the era of Peter the Great — the emperor was accused of having forcibly compelled people to abandon the traditions of Russian dress in favor of European attire. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna proposed holding a ball where all guests would be in costumes of the pre-Petrine era, thus reviving interest in the national art of costume. On February 26, 1903, 390 participants of the grand celebration clothed themselves in Old Russian garments. Some of the costumes miraculously survived and are now kept in the Hermitage.
After the ball, a “Russian boom” began. Interest in national traditions seized all strata of the population, and not only in Russia: in Europe the “Russian style” came into demand, which in turn stimulated interest in the country itself.
And then came the Great October Revolution, and the ball as a form of noble leisure ceased to exist. But time is an amazing architect, and it puts everything in its place. A hundred years later, we are again learning to make curtsies, rehearsing waltz steps, putting on tailcoats and long gowns. And this is not just a fashion for retro. It is an intuitive understanding: without a connection to the past there is no future.
Ball 2.0
The time has come to answer the question: what is a modern ball today, in real life, and not in history textbooks? We usually speak of balls as a phenomenon of culture or high-society life, but they had and still have a quite concrete economic role.
A ball in the modern world is not merely a tribute to tradition but a powerful magnet for tourists and a full-fledged driver of urban economic development. It is an integral part of the luxury and event-tourism industry. Such balls are a magnet for tourists from all over the world.
Today the ball plays the role of a bridge between past and future in the business environment. It is a venue where business meets culture, and pragmatic negotiations are clothed in the form of a beautiful ritual. Perhaps it is precisely the deficit of beautiful and unhurried forms of communication in our digital world that makes the ball so attractive to modern elites and corporations.
The ball is an astonishing paradox. Being a deeply traditional phenomenon, turned toward the past, it proves to be incredibly modern and in demand precisely today.
The business world is oversaturated with communication: messengers, email, conferences, and business breakfasts — all this creates informational noise. Against this backdrop, the ball offers something different — exclusivity, a slowing down, and quality of communication. Very often, in a modern interpretation, a ball’s program also includes a business part in the format of a conference or a high-level round table.
One such event will be the international BRICS Ball, which will take place in Moscow on June 23–24, 2026, at two key venues of the Russian capital — the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Gostiny Dvor. The organizers of the ball are the BRICS Center (Brazil) and the Council of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the Financial Market and Investments.
BRICS Horizons: Business Forum and BRICS Ball
From time immemorial, Moscow has attracted business people from all over the world, becoming the heart of international trade and diplomacy. Today this historic center is once again preparing to gather representatives of friendly states of Africa, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, Asia, and Latin America, emphasizing the special significance of international cooperation. Among the ball’s guests are politicians, financiers, entrepreneurs, and heads of embassies of countries accredited in Russia. More than 500 guests are expected at the first BRICS Ball.
In this context, the international ball ceases to be merely a party for the select few and turns into a unique diplomatic and cultural platform. It is at once a living museum, a theater, and an embassy, where the language of communication becomes dance, music, and costume.
In a world that is often divided into “us” and “them”, the international BRICS Ball reminds us of universal human values. It proves that beauty, grace, and music have no nationality.
Imagine an evening that carries you across borders and continents without requiring a passport or a plane ticket. This is exactly what the program of a real international ball looks like. The vast hall of Gostiny Dvor transforms now into the fairy-tale cave of Ali Baba, now into a majestic palace, where in the polonaise pairs solemnly process in Russian sarafans and kokoshniks, Austrian ball gowns, the military uniforms of various countries, and the national costumes of the peoples of the world. This is not just a carnival — it is a symbol of unity in diversity.
The smooth polonaise is succeeded by His Majesty the Waltz. The immortal music of Strauss and Tchaikovsky, Sviridov and Chopin. And then the hall erupts in the rhythms of the Russian polka, the czardas, and the mazurka. The fiery tango from Argentina gives way to the spirited rumba, and master classes of Indian dance will leave no one indifferent. Demonstration performances by Arab dancers and the Chinese ballet alternate with the performance of the world’s finest arias by soloists of the Bolshoi Theatre.
The highlight of the ball is the Russian round dance (khorovod), warming souls with the warmth of folk wisdom and uniting hearts in the single movement of an ancient Russian dance. The round dance is like a life-giving wind that sets the common dance spinning, multiplying joy for each and sharing the merriment equally. The song leads the dance, and the dance gives smiles and a good mood.
And, of course, the quadrille. That very one, sprightly, to which, as many years ago, the whole hall comes out to dance. A dance in which the voices of violins intertwine with the noise of footsteps, giving birth to a bright firework of joy and unity. It contains folk wisdom blended with the elegance of the past, creating a unique harmony of movement and feeling.
The final chord is the bringing together of all cultures in a single cotillion, where, to a medley of world classical hits, pairs from different countries mix, proving: music and dance are the universal language of humanity. The organizers have prepared many surprises for the ball’s guests. One of them is the festive menu. This is not just a gala dinner — it is a gastronomic kaleidoscope, a chance to taste “culture by the spoonful”. But the main thing is, of course, the luxury of live communication. The international ball is a space where people from different countries meet not as negotiators but as partners in a dance. And this is the shortest path to one another. The ball becomes an ideal counterbalance to the pragmatic and dry world of business negotiations, offering a human, emotional dimension of business.
The best networking happens where tickets are not sold in open sale. Davos gathers politicians, congresses gather professionals, but only balls to this day remain the meeting place of “old money” and “new elites” in a format that does not tolerate fuss. The international ball today is a rare opportunity for a businessman from Russia to shake the hand of a European prince, for an American investor to exchange a few words with an Asian magnate. And all this — without secretaries, protocol, or officialdom. Just a dance, just a conversation, just a contact that tomorrow will turn into a billion-dollar deal.
The ball has lived a long life: from medieval festivities to imperial residences, from revolutionary oblivion to a new birth in the 21st century. Epochs changed, empires collapsed, states vanished and arose, but the ball — returned. Because the human need for live communication, for beauty, for a ritual that unites people, proved stronger than any social cataclysms.
A ball is more than dances. It is a frozen moment, when the past meets the present in order to give us the future. In a world where everything accelerates, the ball teaches us to slow down. In a world where everything is virtual, the ball returns reality to us. In a world where everyone is divided, the ball unites. And as long as the music sounds — the ball is eternal.