The first openly queer couple at the Vienna Opera Ball

For the first time in its 200-year history, the Vienna Opera Ball will allow an openly queer couple to dance together as “debutantes”.

Though not a couple when off the dance floor, Iris Klopfer and Sophie Grau, who identifies as non-binary, met at school in Germany and have been dancing together for six years.

But on February 20 they will form the ball’s first-ever dance partnership not comprised of a man and a woman, joining 288 other “debutantes” for the first waltz at the high-society event.