On
Wednesday, October 7, 2009, American
Ballet Theatre held their annual
fall gala at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City where $525,000 was raised
for ABT. Guests were treated to a special ABT performance, which featured
new works by Alexei Ratmansky, Aszure Barton and Benjamin Millepied,
and then gathered in the Grand Promenade for dinner and dancing. During
dinner, Susan Fales-Hill was awarded the Melville Strauss Leadership
Award and James Applewhite accepted the Northern Trust Award. After dinner,
the celebration continued as DJ Sky Nellor provided music for guests
to dance the night away to. Event décor was by Shai Tertner, founder
and president of Shiraz Events.
Veronica Webb and Iman were Honorary
chairs. Muffie Potter Aston and Sherrell Aston, Lisa and Dick Cashin,
Cosby and Tim George, Anne Grauso, Julia and David Koch were Gala chairs.
Paul and Lisa Wigdor were Corporate co-chairs and Daniel Cappello was
Junior co-chair. Guests included: Natalie Portman, Emmy Rossum, Mila
Kunis, Rufus Wainwright, Iman, Veronica Webb, JoAnna Garcia, Darren Aronofsky,
Sky Nellor, Grace Hightower DeNiro, Adam Duritz, Christian Cota, Susan
Fales-Hill, Blaine Trump, Amy Fine Collins, Nina Griscom, Dayssi Olarte
de Kanavos, Helen Schifter, Fe Fendi, Anne Grauso, Fabiola Beracasa,
Caryn and Jeff Zucker, Deborah Roberts, Jamee and Peter Gregory, Somers
and Jonathan Farkas, Alina Cho, Karen and Richard LeFrak, Adrienne and
Gianluigi Vittadini, Gillian and Sylvester Miniter, Anka Palitz, Peggy
Siegal, Mickey Straus, Sharon Patrick and H.R.H. Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia.
