Since 1978, the annual Stanford Viennese Ball has provided students a chance to trade track jackets for tuxes, don gowns and gloves and plunge into a milieu of waltzes, live orchestras and rose boutonnieres for one magical night.

With less than a week until this year’s big event, however, more than 100 tickets remain to be sold, leaving organizers hoping for a fairy tale finish to their months of planning and preparation.

According to senior Louise Nutt, co-chair of the Viennese Ball Committee, the group needs to sell between 350 and 400 tickets to cover expenses for the 2006 ball and to provide a financial cushion for next year’s event. As of this past weekend, fewer than 250 tickets have been sold.

Roughly two-thirds of the ball’s lavish $55,000 budget is funded by ticket sales, with the majority of tickets being purchased by undergraduates from all four classes. Seven hundred to 750 students typically attend, as well as about 100 alumni.

“The rest is a combination,” Nutt said. “We get a few faculty, a few staff. We also have a number of honored guests, people like the Austrian consul general or University officials like John Bravman.”

Organizers offered several possible explanations as to why student interest does not appear to be as strong this year.

“A lot of it is that people just don’t know about it,” said senior Alison Brooks, the committee’s other co-chair. She confessed that the committee had gotten off to a late start with publicity, due in part to difficulties they had with securing space for the Austria Week events preceding the ball.

Organizers also noted that attendance spiked a few years ago when the future of the ball looked uncertain. More people chose to go, thinking it might be their last chance to experience this elaborate Stanford tradition.

“We got a bit of a boost at the 27th ball,” Nutt said. “We were very worried that that would be the last ball because we were worried our special fees from the ASSU would get cut.”

Sophomore Jessica Humphreys, who helps oversee the logistics of the ball itself, acknowledged that cost may be the prohibiting factor for a number of students.

“The prices are really expensive in general,” she said. “I don’t think the popularity of dance is the problem — we have a huge social dance community.”

Tickets run at $80 per couple for students, $110 per couple for Stanford faculty, staff and alumni, and $125 per couple for members of the general public.

Senior Lisa Hira, who said she does not plan to attend this year, agreed that these prices were a serious consideration — especially for those with little background in this type of affair.

“It’s not the kind of thing you would just do on a whim,” she said.

However, Elizabeth Doyle, a freshman enrolled in social dance this quarter, said she believes the experience would be well worth the price.

“It makes sense, since [the ticket price] tells you how nice the dance is,” she said. “It clues me to the fact that if I’m going to go, I’d better be really into it.”

While she expressed enthusiasm for the ball, Doyle said that she ultimately decided not to attend this year. She cited schoolwork and the fact that many of her friends do not dance and consequently did not consider going as reasons for her decision.

“People don’t really seem informed about the fact that there are dance classes the week prior to the ball,” she said. “I just don’t think it’s been very well publicized.”

Over the next few days the committee’s volunteers will be working to remedy the apparent lack of publicity by visiting dorm house meetings and putting up ads on the Facebook Web site to drum up interest.

“We’ll be trying to get out a lot more posters and send out a lot more e-mails,” Humphreys said. “We’ve got to hit the people who are already interested in this sort of thing.”

Asked whether they would have the financial resources to put on another ball next year, Humphreys could not say for sure.

“It’s very, very possible that we won’t,” she said. “We’re lower this year than we’ve ever been before. Usually we have money for next year.”

Still, organizers remain optimistic about the future.

Nutt mentioned the possibility of moving the event back to campus, where it used to be held, or at least “changing venues to a less expensive one, maybe even a smaller one. If the demand is really decreasing, we don’t want to keep holding it in a space where 1000 people need to go.”

The 2006 Viennese Ball will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 24. Tickets are currently on sale in White Plaza and online at http://www.stanford.edu/group/viennese.