Frolicking and rollicking

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Peter Martins and students at the School of American Ballet's Winter Ball 2009 at the David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center.

Monday night was The Winter Ball of the School of the American Ballet, a dinner dance held annually on the Promenade of the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. Monday night’s was a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the School by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein who also founded the New York City Ballet.

The idea was to first create the school and then create the company from it. This they did. They officially started on January 2, 1934. The first year they had 32 students. Peter Martins said on Monday night that they got their first students by going out on the street and picking them out/recruiting them. Whether or not that is true, it serves fable fortunately. This year the School has 350 students and is considered the premiere ballet school in America.

Liz Peek, Robert Fribourg, Effie Fribourg, Coco Kopelman, Nicolas Luchsinger, and Pamela Joyner

Miss USA Crystle Stewart, Zang Toi, and Lucia Hwong Gordon

Sarah Jessica Parker and Jock Soto

Monday night’s ball brought out the fashionable ladies. Interestingly the younger set is even more fashionable now than the older set with many of the girls taking on the state designer’s statement with the an artfulness.

Zang Toi was one of the evening’s sponsors, the main one being Van Cleef and Arpels. It was Claude Arpels who several decades ago inspired Mr. Balanchine a ballet, so the company’s sponsorship has a historical relationship to the School.

Stacey Bendet Eisner

Chelsea Clinton and Lesley Thompson

Adam Hendrickson and Rebecca Krohn

Alexis Tobin

Anne Byers, Jill Kargman, and Elizabeth Miller

Lori Johnson, Pablo Papageorgiou, and Anne Marie Myers

Alexandra Lebenthal and Jay Diamond

Adrianna Ching, Rosalina Lydster, Miss USA Crystle Stewart, and Lucia Hwong Gordon

Sylvester and Gillian Miniter

Lee Anderson, Liz Armstrong, and Lindsey Armstrong

Kate Davidson Hudson

Gillian Murphy, Jessica Torok, Madeline Kramer, and Jodie Kantor

Chris von Strasser, Katie von Strasser, Elizabeth Miller, and Richard Miller

Moby and Elena Allen

Susan Fales-Hill and Desiree Rogers (White House Social Secretary)

Jeff Peek and Margie Vandercook

Arie Kopelman, Coco Kopelman, Sara Mearns, and Amar Ramasar

Penn Badgley, Blake Lively, and Nicolas Luchsinger

Harry and Jill Kargman

Genevieve Labean

Lisa and Dick Cashin

Lauren Murphy and Noreen Ahmad

Peter Martins, Darci Kistler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Talicia Martins

Rachel McGregor, Vanessa Sergeon, and Dr. Michelle Giuffrid

Sunday night at Restaurant Daniel, the man himself, Daniel Boulud hosted what has become an annual fundraising dinner for Citymeals-on-Wheels.

This year’s dinner was titled “Black Truffles, Blue Jeans, Burgundy Blues.” It was called for 5:30 on what was an ehhh Sunday afternoon looking like rain maybe.

Daniel Humm, Sirio Maccioni, Daniel Boulud, Bob Grimes, and Michel Troisgros

The costume on the invite was clear: jeans. So everyone knows that it’s No Effort; Just Get Yourself Down to Daniel’s and for that you’ll get an incredible meal, with great wines if that’s what you’re into, a good group with good wishes and a party that takes no effort on your part.

This is what happened.

Georgette Farkas, Alison Buckley, Katy Leibold, Beth Shapiro, Katina Pappas, and Heather Gere

They raised almost five hundred thousand dollars. Jamie Ritchie of Sotheby’s conducted a rollicking auction of luxury trips (Paris, San Fran, Aspen, etc.), Sirio Maccioni was feted (and roasted by his host who was once his chef).

Among the crowd: Chris and Francesca Beale, Cathleen Black, Mickey Boulud, Joe and Rochelle Cohen, Donald and Barbara Tober, Julian and Lisa Niccolini, Jimmy Finkelstein and Pamela Gross, Susan Zises Green, Rosalyn and Eliot Jaffe, Carl and Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Egi Maccioni, Mauro Maccioni, Jonathan and Lizzie Tisch, Debra and Jerry Shriver, Lilian Vernon, Lally Weymouth, Joe Cohen, Danny and Audrey Meyer, Samantha and Aby Rosen, Ron Delsener, the lady herself, Gael Greene, and a cast of hundreds gourmet revelers.

Amber Renfro, Rich Kravic, Beverly Telepan, and Bill Telepan

Payal and Dipu Mehta

Bonnie and Frank Pratt

Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Elliott Jaffe, and Roslyn Jaffe

Bill King, Laurie Zeller, and Leslie King

Betty Levin and Joe Cohen

Bruce Teitelbaum and Sonya Starr

Carl Spielvogel, Dana Stoddard, and Craig Stoddard

Audrey and Danny Meyer

Anne Cohen and Julian Niccolini

Aby Rosen and Samantha Boardman Rosen

Bill Telepan, Daniel Boulud, Deb Shriver, and Tom Harvey

David Patrick Columbia and Barbara Tober

Candace Leeds

Daniel Boulud and gang

Diana Diamond, Suri Kasirer, Dr. John H. Alschuler, Jr., and Lisa Rosenblum

Tom Harvey and Cathie Black

Daniel and Micky Boulud

Daniel Humm, Georgette Farkas, Julian Niccolini, and Lisa Niccolini

Daniel Rice, Antoinette Borromeo, and Lauren Spiegel

Evelyn Lipper and Lally Weymouth

Emmanuelle and Jamie Ritchie

Joe Cohen, Lally Weymouth, and Mauro Maccioni

George and Jeri Sape

Herbie Buarte and Sean Renfro

Cynthia and Jeff Penney

Myron and Marcia Stein

Francine Farkas Sears and Benjamin Sears

Irving and Yetta Geszel

Jamie Ritchie

Jonathan and Lizzie Tisch

Karim Soltani, Isabelle Vritout, Payal Mehta, and Dipu Mehta

Ellen Leep and Michael Sherrow

Harvey and Pauline Radler

Judy Zipp, Meredith Goldman, and Ellen Grimes

Lillian and Paolo Martino

Egi and Sirio Maccioni

Isabel and German Ferrando

Ron Delsener and Georgette Farkas

Lisa Niccolini, Ray Javdan, Mindy Kobrin, and Julian Niccolini

Lisa Rosenblum, Suri Kasirer, and Sonya Starr

Susan Zises Green, David Patrick Columbia, and Georgette Farkas

Nancy Moonves and Richard Kandel

Lizzie Tisch, Joe Cohen, and Samantha Boardman Rosen

Taylor Thompson and Jill Donenfeld

Joyce Buchman

Linda Kasen, Gavin Kasen, and Jeanine Humm

Francesca Beale and Bruce Teitelbaum

Roxanne and Roger Taylor

Just south of Houston Street on the Lower East Side stands a beautiful structure known as the Orensanz Foundation, or as some of us fondly call, The Armory II. This neo-gothic building, which was designed as a synagogue in 1849, was purchased by artist Angel Orensanz in 1986, first for his own art studio and then as a cultural center and beacon of education. A Spanish-born painter, sculptor and performance artist Orensanz is internationally known, particularly in Europe, for more than 40 years. He has produced highly personal art ranging from large and complex abstract sculptures in materials as varied as glass, ceramics and metal, to representational works on paper. He has also produced large-scale environmental installations in rural and urban settings as well as highly theatrical performance pieces - all documented in photographic and video images. Angel's art is compelling and fun for all ages and tastes.

To celebrate Armory Art Week’s Soho Night, the Foundation held a reception on March 5th featuring an installation performance in which Orensanz transformed the space through the use of light. Titled "matter/light" - light projected from the second story balcony which encircles the main space and light trapped into electric fields that depart from all the angles of the space creating a field of energy and matter-energy.

"matter/light"

As guests arrived, they removed their shoes and became part of the art experience. They walked barefoot through a forest of LED sculptured shafts of projections over the floor which operated as an inverted dome of moving light on to the large installation of the 120 suspended cylinder sculptures cascading over the immense floor. Visitors made their way up to the second floor, and while sipping cocktails walked around the perimeter viewing the transparent picture gallery, as well as having a bird's eye view of the sculpture and the projected images below which were swirling in slow moving waves.

International guests and friends in attendance included: Dr. Sherrill Kazan and Dr. Noel Brown, from World Council of Peoples for the UN, Vladimir Luzgin and Yuri Aduroakhmanov (Moscow), Alexander Tugolve (Bilorrusia), Leonid Laianitsky (photographer of Barishnikoff), Gregory Gurevitch (St. Petersburg), Eugene Zubkov and Andrei Harskhufha (Moscow), John Schly, writer Lynn Nicholas, Architect Dr. Frank Godlewski, Art Collector Jean Cherqui (Paris), Artist Grigory Gurevich, Clif de Raita, Bruce Michael, Editor Mila Andre (The NY Daily News), Associated Press correspondent Warren Levinson, Iris Gordon Rossi and Joan Cavanaugh.

— Ann Watt