The Miami City Ballet celebrated 30 years of amazing ballet in Miami with their 30th Anniversary Gala on Saturday, January 23. It was a luxe, black-tie affair taking place in a soaring tent down by the water’s edge as a full moon reflected on inky water.
Supermodel Adriana Lima graced the event with her presence, which began with a swanky cocktail by Christofle of Paris and Bacardi. A fireworks display sponsored by Movado signaled it was time to sit down for dinner.
The gala raised more than $3.5 million with the help of chairs Ana and Robert Barlick, Tina and Dan Carlo and Susan D. Kronick and Edwardo Manno Shumsky and many more of Miami’s haute philanthropy set.
The funds will go towards Program IV’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream by George Balanchine, which will be reimagined with an undersea sensibility, moving it from forrest to ocean floor.
“I wanted the gala to be on the waterfront in honor of that,” explained chair Tina Carlo, who worked tirelessly on the temporary location, which featured a stunning jellyfish chandelier, seashell and coral accented tables and underwater images of the MCB dancers projected on the tent’s ceiling.
The artist who designed the costumes for the new take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Michele Oka Doner, is known for her ethereal, organic aesthetic and was in attendance as well as Miami City Ballet founder Toby Lerner Ansin, Swanee and Paul DiMare and Trish and Dan Bell. Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine took to the stage to praise the Miami Beach-based cultural institution, and to present the Key to the City to Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez.
He also named January 23rd, 2016 “Miami City Ballet Day” and asked the nationally acclaimed company if they might consider changing their name to the “Miami Beach City Ballet”—all in good humor, of course.
Photos by Manny Hernandez and World Red Eye
