Gray Skies and Grand Jetés: ABT’s Spring Gala Celebrated 85 Years in Style
Last week, a downpour couldn’t dampen the glow inside Cipriani South Street, where the American Ballet Theatre staged its annual Spring Gala with all the elegance you’d expect from one of New York’s premier cultural institutions. The black-tie affair not only celebrated the company’s 85th anniversary but also honored longtime supporters Susan and Leonard Feinstein, whose decades of generosity have funded the creation of new choreography and helped ensure the company’s artistic longevity. Susan Jaffe, ABT’s artistic director, and Barry Hughson, its executive director, raised a toast to open the evening before guests made their way from cocktails to a candlelit dinner—and the real draw of the night: the dancing.
The program offered a glittering preview of ABT’s 2025 Summer season, from an excerpt of Christopher Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale—receiving its New York premiere next year—to tried-and-true favorites like Kevin McKenzie’s Swan Lake, George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations and Frederick Ashton’s Sylvia. Contemporary brilliance wasn’t forgotten either: Twyla Tharp’s Bach Partita and Alexei Ratmansky’s Serenade after Plato’s Symposium rounded out a program that was both reverent and electric. The evenings star dancers included Joo Won Ahn, Aran Bell, Isabella Boylston, Skylar Brandt, Daniel Camargo, Herman Cornejo, Catherine Hurlin, Chloe Misseldine, Gillian Murphy, SunMi Park, Jake Roxander, Calvin Royal III, Hee Seo, Christine Shevchenko, Cory Stearns, Devon Teuscher, Cassandra Trenary and James Whiteside.
New York’s boldfaced names turned out in force in a mix that was pure Manhattan: Alec and Hilaria Baldwin, designer Cynthia Rowley, patron Indré Rockefeller, philanthropic fixture Jean Shafiroff, former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, jewelry designer Lauren Levinson, philanthropist Lizzie Asher, designer Michelle Ochs, TooD Beauty founder Sharareh Siadat and soccer star Ashlyn Harris. There were dancers offstage, too, including icons Misty Copeland, Sascha Radetsky and Stella Abrera, as well as actors Sophia Bush, Dascha Polanco, Alex Newell and Eric Rutherford. Even a few Real Housewives showed up to support the stage, with Sai De Silva, Kelly Killoren Bensimon and Sutton Stracke trading reality TV confessionals for champagne.
Susan Jaffe, Susan Feinstein and Barry Hughson
Hilaria Baldwin and Alec Baldwin
Misty Copeland and Clinton Luckett
Karine Jean-Pierre
Katherine Gage Boulud
Sai De Silva, Michelle Ochs and Sharfaraz Khan
Rebecca Hessel Cohen
Christine Shevchenko
Monica Elias, Cynthia Rowley, Lauren Kulchinsky Levison, Lizzie Asher and Tina Leung
Leonard Feinstein
Isiah Magsino
Cathy Ingram and Bill Ingram
Lauren Levison
Ashlynn Harris and Sophia Bush
Jean Shafiroff
James Whiteside and Tina Leung
Alex Newell
Nicole DiCocco
Lizzie Asher and Natalie Dougherty
Priya Shukla
Kimberly Taylor Gindi and Roman Chiporukha
Patti Ruiz-Healy
Sharareh Siadat, John Wattiker and Malcolm Carfrae
Indré Rockefeller
Mitzi Eisenberg and Warren Eisenberg
Eric Rutherford and James Richard Miller
Monica Elias, Lizzie Asher, Tina Leung, Bach Mai and Lauren Levison
Arielle Patrick and Valentino Carlotti
Kelly Killoren Bensimon
Gillian Murphy and Kevin Mckenzie
Gillian Murphy and James Whiteside
Chloe Misseldine and PJ Pascual
