New York City Ballet's Dance With The Dancers Benefit

New York State Theatre
New York, NY
www.nycb.org

Robert Abrams
June 14, 2004

The New York City Ballet's Dance with the Dancers benefit was a fantastic time as usual. It is to my way of thinking a nearly perfect dance event: it supports great art, plays great music to which many attendees dance, and has great energy. Each year the event has a theme. Many people dress up in the theme. This year the theme was James Bond. The NYCB dancers put on a great Bond inspired number with lots of really smooth lifts and drops. They used both the mezzanine floor and the opposite side of the first balcony above it.

I went with a friend of mine (who designs her own outfits) dressed in a riff on Goldfinger. The dress chinos and linen jacket (style # 206022-00) are from Banana Republic. The shirt is from Pronto-Uomo. The hand painted tie is by Mitchel Rubin (Berkeley, California - mitchelrubindesigns.com). Having found a relatively gold toned ensemble, I figured I couldn't just wear the usual black shoes. I searched all over town and finally found an appropriately tan pair of shoes at LaDuca. The pair they had available, that happened to fit once they put an insert into the shoes, was originally made for Movin' Out. The LaDucas worked perfectly at Dance with the Dancers, giving me just enough ability to glide but also providing traction. Often it felt like I was floating, which is saying something considering that the floor of the mezzanine of the New York State Theatre is stone.

The music at Dance with the Dancers tends to include a lot of Hustle. If you are into social dance and also want to support a great ballet company, the New York City Ballet's Dance with the Dancers is the event to attend.

Robert Abrams and friend at the New York City Ballet's Dance With The Dancers Photos courtesy of Mary Hilliard