D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A that Joyner was wearing it for the occasion thanks to Van Cleef and Arpels, who was the sponsor of the evening. At about 8 p.m., guests moved up the staircase to the promenade. Dinner was scheduled for 8, but there were hundreds of guests and they take awhile to find their tables while they’re socializing with friends. It was a goodlooking scene, with the women dressed for the occasion and the men in black tie. I once asked my late friend Johnny Galliher why a tuxedo seemed to make anyone look good, no matter the shape or the age? He replied the obvious: the color black with a dash of white is a uniform, and people
almost always look good in uniforms. I think last night they felt good too. Students at the School of American Ballet start training and learning as children. It is very impressive. Witnessing it you can see what a wonderful education and preparation for life the children get there. They learn to work and focus and commit and selfdiscipline. Not to mention passion. I always think it’s unfortunate that all children in this country don’t have that kind of education. We’d have more industry in this country if that were so. Deborah Roberts and Al Roker opened the evening as emcees. Peter Martins spoke,
as did Marjorie Van Dercook, the S.A.B.’s executive director, who told us that this year they raised more than ever before, more than $800,000. Darci Kistler, the former prima ballerina of the New York City Ballet and wife of its director, Peter Martins, spoke about coming to New York from California as an early teenager to go to the School of American Ballet. George Balanchine was still alive and working then and she trained with him. She reminisced about the facilities, which were far more primitive than students have today. She had a full scholarship, which pleased her parents. New York soon became everything
to her. She excelled so that she was a principal dancer by fifteen or sixteen and a soloist the following year. When she retired from the stage, she joined the staff of the S.A.B. The highlight of the evening was a performance by the students, which took place after dinner and before dessert. There were four pieces on the program, unfortunately I only recognized one number, “Tea For Two.” The S.A.B. dancers are especially optimistic to watch because they are in training to provide the immense pleasure the world can receive in the future from watching them. After all, everything really is beautiful at the ballet.
r o b e r t a f r e y m a n n a n d o l i v i a p a l e r m o l a u n c he d the i r c o l l a b o r a t i v e n e c k l a c e c o l l e c t i o n
Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict 40 QUEST
Caroline Curtis and Lisa Weiss
Olivia Palermo and Johannes Huebl
Lisa Wassong and Roberta Freymann
Liz Kaye and Daniel Kinney
Jack Bryan, Teresa Greenfeld and Ryan FitzGerald
pat r i c k m c m u ll a n
Jackie Williams and Pat Werblin