http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/social-diary/2015/a-diamond-jubilee-abts-75th-anniversary-spring-gala
why is this news, it's so addictive
Wednesday, May 20, 2015. Yesterday, rain was forecast, but although in the first half of the day it was cloudy and grey with the temperatures in the low 70s, by mid-afternoon the Sun was out and it was a beautiful day and early evening. The night before, Monday, I went over to the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center where the American Ballet Theatre 75th Anniversary Spring Gala hosted a Diamond Jubilee gala performance and dinner dance.
It was one of New York’s more glamorous evenings, made moreso by the perfect late Spring weather. It began at 5:30 with a Champagne Reception on the Grand Tier of the opera house, followed by the performance scheduled to begin at 6:30 (although what with the city’s rush hour traffic and people’s work schedules, it was a little after 7 before the guests were in their seats and ready for the curtain). The program began with a video of Ambassador Caroline Kennedy recalling her mother’s love and support of the ABT, and her own excitement as a young girl being taken to many of the performances and even meeting some of the great stars.
Ambassador Kennedy’s remarks were followed by brief speeches by Ruth Ann Koesun, Sigourney Weaver, Susan Jaffe and Joel Grey who introduced videos of the history of the ABT (first know as The Ballet Theatre) and its founders in 1939-1940 – including Mikhail Mordkin and Lucia Chase – who actually founded the company in 1937, and Oliver Smith, Jerome Robbins, Richard Pleasant. Chase, Pleasant and Smith, it appears, were most influential in the first three decades of the company. Chase and Smith were the first Artistic Directors (1940 – 1980), succeeded by the great Mikhail Baryshnikov (1980 – 1989), followed by Jane Hermann and Oliver Smith from ’89 through ’92 when Kevin McKenzie came aboard and remains to this day.
The evening featured a one-time-only performance spanning ABT’s seven and a half decades, with film excerpts of historic performances and interviews with major figures in the dance world, and special guest appearances. The dance program was 23 pieces from the company’s repertoire dating back to the beginning, followed by a Grand Finale.