- After dinner, the older people start to play cards and the younger people stand around the piano singing songs.
- Natasha notices that Sonya’s not there. She finds Sonya crying her eyes out on their nanny’s bed.
- There’s a lot of sobby weeping and weepy sobbing, but the gist is basically this:
- 1. Sonya and Nikolai are second cousins, and to marry a cousin you need special permission from the Orthodox Church.
- 2. Sonya is worried that either way, Countess Rostov won’t let her marry Nikolai and wants him to marry that Julie chick instead.
- 3. Vera Rostov found some love poems that Nikolai wrote to Sonya and is threatening to show them to the Countess.
- Natasha calms her down and tells her that they’ll make it work out.
- They get back to the guests, sing a song, and get ready for the dancing portion of the party.
- Natasha asks Pierre to dance – as a favor to her mom. She’s kind of psyched to be dancing with a grownup and makes a big deal out of acting like a lady.
- Later Count Rostov asks Marya Dmitrievna to dance, tells the band to strike up some oldies, and busts a move like no one has seen in a long time. It’s totally hilarious and fun, and everyone has a great time watching him go to town.