around town
All Hail the New Year!
Russians celebrate the old-fashioned way plus a report on the glitzy festivities in Gstaad By DONNA SHOR
A
SECOND NEW YEAR:
The action was non-stop at the 41st Annual Russian New Year’s Eve Ball at the Mayf lower Hotel, with a romantic balalaika orchestra, leaping folk dancers doing lofty splits five feet in the air, a waltz performance and dancing to Sidney’s Orchestra. The capital’s old guard Russian community follows the Julian Calendar, which means they celebrate New Year’s Eve exactly two weeks later than the rest of us. Many are descendants of the imperial and noble elite who fled their homeland after the 1917 Bolshevik/ Communist revolution. The guest list is filled with names that are right out of the pages of Russian history books. Pr incess Alexis ( Selene ) Obolensky joined her son, Prince Dimitri Obolensky, as co-chairmen of this year’s ball, which was under the patronage of Prince and Princess Nicolas Romanoff . Prince and Princess David Chavchavadze headed the ball committee with the Scriabine Foundation as sponsor. Either black- or white-tie with decorations optional was the dress code. Some women wore elaborate costumes including kokoshnik headdresses with dangling pearls. “You don’t need to be Russian to have fun here. Tonight, everybody’s Russian” one enthusiastic guest noted. (Even non-Russians tear-up when the balalaikas strum the nostalgic “Moscow Nights.”)
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Other revelers included Kermit and Priscilla Roosevelt, Chateau and John Gardecki, Bonnie and Ed Wilson, Gertrude d’Amecourt, Guy d’Amecourt, Nicole d’Amecourt, Gary and Rose O’Neal Akin , Xenia Woyevodsky , Maria Nedelkovich, Paul Carp, Richard DeSonier, Mary Bird, Margaret Hickey, Jean Wigham, Athena Adams, Clayton and Susie Eisinger, Cyd Miller Everett, George and Ishin Ludlow, Susan Watters and Vera and Louis Emmerij. REPLACING THE RABBIT’S FOOT: Christine Warnke welcomed the New
Year during a stay in Gstaad’s swank Palace Hotel, where she caught up with her Greek family. The Palace was chockablock with international jet setters, she reports, citing the presence of MiddleEastern royals, Indian and French cinema stars and Greek shipping magnates. Above: Princess Alexis Obolensky (right) A highpoint: at midnight, everyone with Miles Besson, husband of Raisa rushed outside and threw money up in Scriabine, descendant of the classic Russian composer, Alexander Scriabin the air – which tradition maintains will (Photo by Kyle Samperton). Left: insure that lots of lucre rains down over Christine Warnke, clad in a pink Chanel jacket, heading to the Swiss ski slopes in you in the coming year. Gstaad (Photo by Andreas Papathomas). As further financial insurance in this Germanic region where a pig is a symbol The event drew many notable attendees such of good fortune (and little pigs molded of as WJLA TV-7 weatherman Bob Ryan and his marzipan appear at New Year’s in the candy wife Olga; designer Anna Weatherly and her stores), the Palace went the extra mile to invoke husband George; Nina and Philip Pillsbury; even more wealth for its already well-heeled Bruce Maxwell; Timothy Trudeau and wife P.J., clientele. A plump little piglet – very well who wore a stunning wine-hued Lacroix; Bob scrubbed – was brought into the hotel to be Heggestad and Rosemary Bogley (in town from petted and admired, squealing greetings as he her horse-country estate); and Andre Willieme. “worked the room.”
WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
| February
2011
| washingtonlife.com