Opera Redoubt 2024 | The vote winners moved from the band to the dance floor

The white dress with lace, tulle skirt and leg opening is already ready at home, and only a few hours separate the dancing couple Florentin Lorber and Frank Weber from their big show at Graz Opera Redoute on Saturday evening. “We're here for the first time and we're really excited,” they both agree. And now they have another reason to be happy: in the vote for the most popular polonaise duo in the newspaper Klein Zeitung, the two emerged as winners. “Our music colleagues probably voted for us hard,” suspect the 22-year-old and 26-year-old, who hail from South Styria.

Weber grew up with the Leibniz City Ensemble, and has been there since 2007, with Lorber joining ten years later. “Music has been with me all my life,” said the passionate drummer who has also played with the State Youth Orchestra, in the Symphony Orchestra and in the Military Band. Lorber says something similar: The transverse flute always fascinated the young woman working at the Graz district court. “When I started, I was in second grade school, and even in kindergarten I really wanted to play the flute.” Ultimately, the band was also the reason the two found each other on the dance floor; By chance, the music colleagues discovered their common passion. “We are young speakers in our group and wanted to organize something for the group, and it ended up being a dance class,” Weber recalls.

Three more hours of waltzing

A small decision that will have a lasting impact on their lives, because they now dance together regularly – lately, it's been all about the dance at their dance school in Telmic. “This is really cool because there are elements of a dance in the polonaise choreography,” Weber says happily. The dancing couple came prepared to perform in front of an eminent jury at the end of last year. “We took three additional individual waltz lessons,” Weber smiles, and the efforts have paid off.

As one of 52 dancing duos, Lorber and Weber will officially open the evening at Opernredoute. “At first, we didn't think we'd be accepted because we didn't hear anything two weeks after casting, so we were even happier when we got the confirmation,” Lorber remains thrilled. “With the crown you feel like a princess.” There is no trace of tension between the two. “While dancing you only hear the music and don't think about anything else,” says Weber.

They never imagined that the two would emerge as winners of the vote. “But my mother would send a call to her WhatsApp status every day,” laughs Weber, who teaches “Cybersecurity” at Hagenberg University, “and I also mentioned it to my co-workers at Anton Bahr quite often, so maybe that helped me as well.” “. He studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Upper Austria. Weber says the bandmates will watch the two perform on screen. “Luckily there is a live broadcast.”