The growing popularity of the European spa ritual known as "Aufguss" is good news for anyone who has ever taken a schvitz and thought, Hmm, needs more dance.
Named after the German word for "infusion," an Aufguss is a ceremony that takes place in a large coed sauna and is presided over by an Aufgussmeister—often bare-chested if male, swimsuit-clad if female.
After taking balls of ice that have been infused with essential oils and placing the orbs on hot rocks to fill the sweatbox with soothing scents, the master of ceremonies then performs a series of graceful, towel-flapping movements designed to waft the heat throughout the space.
Observers have likened the towel wielders' spinning, flicking, and waving to bullfighters with their capes, rhythmic gymnasts with their ribbons, and pizzamakers with their dough.
Each ritual lasts about 15 minutes. There's musical accompaniment, too.
If you find this description difficult to envision, feel free to take a detour to YouTube, where you can watch numerous Aufguss videos with swelling scores that make half-naked towel-twirling feel like a heroic endeavor on par with the sacking of Troy.
With roots stretching back centuries, the ritual has gathered steam (sorry) in recent years as the sauna trend has experienced a renaissance across Europe.
In addition to the cleansing sweat and the entertaining performance, the multisensory Aufguss experience can also be "emotional and surprisingly bonding," some contend, creating a kind of collective high among the spectators.
Either that, or everybody's delirious from the heat.
Where to experience an Aufguss sauna ritual in Europe or North America
The BBC reports that "many hotels and spas across the German-speaking territory where this sauna offshoot started offer classic Aufguss experiences."
Highly rated versions can be seen at Aqua Dome in Längenfeld, Austria, Therme Erding near Munich, and Dolce Vita in South Tyrol, Italy.
The trend has jumped the Atlantic as well.
In North America, you can see what all the Aufguss fuss is about at spas such as Bathhouse in New York CIty, Nordik Spa Village in Québec, and, in Las Vegas, at the spas operated by Resorts World and the Fontainebleau.
For top practitioners of the art form, there's an Aufguss World Championship held each September. That's probably the best place to witness "Theatre Aufguss," which incorporates a dramatic narrative and elaborate costumes—"Kabuki in the heat," as one fan put it to The New Yorker.
This year's championship will be in Berlin. If you were hoping to travel for an international competition in 2026 and the Winter Olympics looked entirely too chilly, this might be just the thing.