The Viennese Opera Ball in New York draws on the rich history of balls in Vienna, begun around the time of Strauss. The guest list reads like an Austrian phone book. The band plays waltz after waltz after waltz.

But in its 51st consecutive year, the ball, held at the Waldorf-Astoria on Friday, is American through and through. Take this year’s debutantes and dancers, the young women in white gowns who were formally presented at the start of the ball. They are Austrian, English, Italian, and Chinese. The most recognizable guest was Miss USA, Chelsea Cooley, whose favorite activities include shag dancing, watching Major League baseball, reading suspense novels, jet skiing, and snorkeling – but not the waltz.

The debutantes and their escorts managed some trimmed-down versions of the waltz, with the women doing some lovely things with their bouquets – lifting them up and down, holding them to their chest, etc. But the performance was brief, and in all honesty, the pretty young things seemed more excited about the after-party, at which Paul Sevigny (Chloe’s brother) was scheduled to deejay.

That was all right, though, because at this ball, the job of performing the waltz falls to a group of enthusiastic and regular ballroom dancers selected for the occasion. This year’s performance broke with tradition in that the women’s gowns were shortened to above the ankle, and the women carried bright red fans. A pair of professional dancers performed a waltz dressed in period attire – petticoats and white wigs. And to add to the spectacle was a live horse and carriage.

Guests took it all in, waiting for their moment to waltz across the dance floor on the night of Mozart’s 250th birthday. The event, a project of the U.S.-Austrian Chamber of Commerce, raised money for the Special Olympics. Two athletes, Alyssa Scroope and Craig Ludin, were part of the ball’s “coming out” class.