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The Russian Ball of Washington, DC is an invitation-only dinner dance and one of the premiere social events held in the capital city of the United States. The ball is an annual tradition founded in 1971 by the socialite Maria Fisher. An enthusiast of holding "heritage parties" celebrating different ethnicities, Fisher acted on the suggestion of Prince Alexis Obolensky, a Russian nobleman who resided in Washington, to organize a ball celebrating the city's White émigré community around the time of the old style Julian calendar New Year in mid-January. Prince Obolensky and his American wife Selene chaired the ball until his death in 2006. Princess Obolensky continued to chair the ball alone until she stepped down for health reasons in 2013.
The ball's current chairmen are Professor and Mrs. Paul du Quenoy. It is co-chaired by Prince and Princess Nicholas Obolensky. The ball committee has included members of the Tolstoy, Putiatin, Shakhovskoy, Chavchavadze, Volkonsky, Schimmelpenninck, Borchgrave, Roosevelt, and Wanamaker families as well as His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie of Ethiopia, Congressman James W. Symington, Senator Larry Pressler, and Edward T. Wilson, grandson of the American businessman Thomas E. Wilson. The Ball's Patroness is Her Imperial Highness Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, Head of the Imperial House of Romanov.
Dress is black or white tie or national costume.