Next, dancers-turned-emcees James Whiteside and Thomas Forster, sporting impish horns and a divine halo, respectively, with their tuxedos, took the stage to guide the audience through a program of enchanted forests and haunted dreams. The pair sprinkled humor and ballet trivia throughout the evening’s nine classical selections, all loosely tied to the fantastical theme. “We have spirits, fairies, sorcerers, and swan women,” said Whiteside. “So, a totally normal night at ABT,” quipped Forster.
The program opened with Daniel Camargo in the company premiere of Frederick Ashton’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits, a haunting solo depicting Orpheus yearning for his lost Eurydice. A lighter mood followed as Catherine Hurlin and Isaac Hernández appeared as Titania and Oberon in an excerpt from Ashton’s The Dream, the choreographer’s one-act Shakespeare comedy adaptation.
There were plenty of familiar favorites from ABT’s repertoire, including Shevchenko and Calvin Royal III as the goddess and shepherd in Ashton’s Sylvia; a confection of marzipan, sugarplums, and gingerbread from Alexei Ratmansky’s Whipped Cream; and, of course, the Swan Lake pas de deux, with Misseldine bringing down the house with the Black Swan’s devilish 32 fouettés.
Artistic director Susan Jaffe also took the opportunity to revisit some lesser-seen works, including Coppélia, with Skylar Brandt as the doll brought to life, and Michel Fokine’s Le Spectre de la Rose, featuring Léa Fleytoux as a young woman visited in her dreams by a flower spirit, danced by Herman Cornejo. The program also featured La Sylphide, a genre-defining ballet that dates back to 1832, with Hee Seo in the title role. (Jaffe plans to mount a full-scale production next year.)
While there were no Nutcracker angels, Satan made an appearance in the penultimate number. Jaffe resurrected Agnes de Mille’s mischievous Three Virgins and a Devil from 1934, which ABT had not performed in nearly a quarter century. The comic ballet follows three young women whose weaknesses are exploited by Jake Roxander’s pointy-tailed trickster with slick dance moves.
Heaven and hell faced off once more at dinner, where tables dressed in ivory linens, white garden roses, and sweet peas alternated with darker tablescapes featuring black calla lilies and midnight Phalaenopsis orchids. Over roasted pumpkin soup and chicken pot pie, Jaffe, dressed in a Comme des Garçons blazer, recalled dancing the role of the Priggish Virgin, who believes she can tame the devil, during her own years with the company—a part originated by de Mille herself. “When I started looking for pieces to fit the theme, I really went down a rabbit hole,” she said. “So much of the ballet repertoire is about the supernatural world.”
Then came a number not yet in ABT’s enchanted repertoire, as 50 students from its pre-professional Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School materialized in the center of the room for a surprise rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” With the crowd suitably energized, Sloan Lindemann Barnett, one of the gala’s grand chairs, sporting Dior and devil horns (what else?), took the floor to lead a paddle raise that took in $700,000—helping bring the evening’s fundraising total to over $3 million.
