I recently had the distinct pleasure of attending the Joffrey Ballet’s Spring Gala, and had a fabulous time watching a selection of ballet performances, and enjoying dinner, cocktails and dancing at the Palmer House afterwards.
The whole evening began with a cocktail reception at the Auditorium Theatre, which was followed by 7 different performances by Joffrey ballet dancers, and a performance by the Exelon Strobel Touring Troupe (which was absolutely amazing). This kind of specially-curated performance worked well for me, because my attention span is very slight, so it was nice to have the change of style, tone, story, etc. I thought they did a wonderful job of showing the Joffrey’s versatility, and it was nice to see everything from a youth performance to a gorgeous duet by two of the company’s most seasoned dancers.
After the performances, everyone made their way to the Palmer House, where we were greeted with champagne and roaming violins. (My friend Jack and I felt like we were boarding the Titanic.) Then came a delicious dinner of filet (or, pastry-crusted spinach, for us non-red-meat-eaters) and dancing! The City Light Orchestra rocked the casbah with much-loved covers for a pretty fabulous post-dinner dance party. Although I’m not quite on par with the Joffrey ballet dancers, me and my sequined dress had a pretty great time.
All in all, it was an awesome event and I had such a great time. Can’t wait for next year!
Also: check out this great video they made just for the gala, I thought it was quite lovely.
The Joffrey Ballet 2011 from Sasha Fornari on Vimeo.
–Amanda Aldinger
