Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2010 > September > 12 > Entry
Ballet Fete at Butler Center and Seaholm Power Plant
The Party of the Decade — exalting Stephen Mills’ 10 years as Ballet Austin’s leader — lived up to its name. At least for those gala guests lucky enough to witness all three acts (ticket face value: $1,000). It started at 6 p.m. Friday with drinks in the lobby of the Butler Dance Education Center on West Third Street. Right away, one noticed the unusually elaborate yet elegant gowns, the discreet accents on rarely worn tuxes.
Andrea McWilliams and Steve Hicks
Turning the corner into a dance studio for dinner, all one could do is gasp at the themed floral arrangements by the Mandarin Flower Co. Filling the room, they rose from 10 tables, each representing a major ballet from the Mills era. To say that they were creative is to understate the case in the extreme.
Yes, only 10 tables. One hundred guests. That intensified the uncommon quality of the entire evening. I sat with party chairwoman Andrea McWilliams and her husband Dean McWilliams. Their two adjoining tables brimmed with enthralling conversationalists, and prior to the evening, Andrea had sent to each of us a bound copy of biographies of their guests.
Now that’s classy. Our gang included Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Texas Comptroller and F1 enthusiast Susan Combs, former Austin Mayor Will Wynn, author Kristin Armstrong, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Chairman James Mansour, Citi managing director William Borden, power lawyer Mark Eidman, University of Texas Regent Steve Hicks and his always poised wife Donna Stockton Hicks, Texas Rep. Mark Strama and his wife, former TV newswoman Crystal Cotti.
Oze Paya and Donna Stockton Hicks
Over the course of the evening, I got to know three guests much better: Texas State University System Chancellor Brian McCall (whose book on Texas governors Kip edited); Mark McWilliams, Dean’s cousin and owner of Arista Winery, which provided the superb Russian River Valley potables for the dinner; and Jennifer Moross, astute native Austinite and wife of financier Dominic Moross (they live in Greenwich, Conn. with their family).
Diane Land and Steve Adler
And we are just getting to Four Seasons chef Elmar Pramb’s dinner: tuna tatare with guacamole; roasted beet, arugula, goat cheese and candied pecans under balsamic vinaigrette; beef tenderloin with sauteed mushrooms paired with lump crab cake on sweet corn salad and chive-lemon risotto. Top that off with pastry chef Javier Franco’s white dome of chocolate, passion fruit, cremeaux, and raspberry sauce. Each of these courses came with a splash of Arista or Mark David label wines. My fave: The stately cabernet franc. I was lucky to reserve Mark at my side to explain the derivation of each selection.
Nina Seely, Will Wynn and Becky Beaver
After dinner, we retired to the Austin Ventures Studio Theater where Mills was properly lionized with short speeches, a film with snips from his major ballets and a full performance of “Kai,” a charmingly strenuous dance which will officially premiere Sept. 24-26 with “Carmina Burana” at the Long Center. Among the uniformly striking performers, I was most impressed with Jaime Lynn Witts, who projects an extraordinary presence.
Susan Combs and William Borden
Performance over, we were bussed two blocks to the vacated Seaholm Power Plant and then were immediately seated near the runway for the fashion show. As everyone knows, Austin now hosts two or three runway shows a week. This one was immaculate, posh, to go with Carolina Herrera’s fur-fringed fall and winter looks, thanks to the guidance of Neiman Marcus.
At this point, the Party of the Decade was pretty near flawless for those of us given the white-glove treatment (don’t think for a second I take it for granted; I’m a lucky guy). The live auction, however, just rolled on too long, and the heat inside Seaholm started to take its toll. Suddenly, I recalled that all the previous parties I’d attended here were in the winter!
The heat did not, however, kill the party, which now included scores of guests who had attended only one or none of Acts 1 and 2. They were scooping up the hearty snacks and signature drinks. They wandered around the chopped-up space inside Seaholm to partake of various booths. Those who had never been inside Seaholm before gaped at the vast expanses. I prefer to see it in a more open, clean-lined and industrial way, a stage design perfected at Taylor Perkins’ New Year’s Eve bash there.
After six hours of Fete — added to four hours at Beauty of Life that morning and three hours of Glossy Glam the previous night — I was ready to head home.
At least two young women near the 360 Tower shouted out compliments about the tux as I walked by. The second yelled: “Hey, sexy old man!”
I’ll take that. And the whole enchanted evening.
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Comments
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By Holly Aker
September 13, 2010 1:05 PM | Link to this
I understand it was a fundraiser, but why the need for such a high-priced ticket? And only 100 people at the dinner? If they were trying to raise money, why not allow as many people as possible to contribute?
By Christina Logan
September 12, 2010 10:42 PM | Link to this
This sounded like it was a blast. The price of the ticket seemed very fitting given all that was included. Events like this are always nice, the best part is getting ready and attempting to out do everyone else (or is that just me?) Can't wait until I can afford fancy stuff like this!
By art maven
September 12, 2010 8:15 PM | Link to this
@Meg Seeger- it's a fundraiser. Buy a ticket next year and you're in! Spring for a VIP pass while you're at it.
By Eugene
September 12, 2010 5:53 PM | Link to this
Not at all surprised. We knew this was gonna be another magical homerun for BA. Regret we can't do 'em all
By Meg Seeger
September 12, 2010 5:38 PM | Link to this
This event sounds like it was a blast. However, I'm left wondering why was it so exclusive and how did they choose who was invited? Also, what about the dancing? I would have loved to hear some more details about the dancers and his company.