The San Francisco Ballet’s 80th anniversary gala featured a gorgeous setting in City Hall, a spectacular ballet performance, and a rousing after-party—one of the most glamorous and exciting evenings of the year!
Though I hibernated much of the winter in San Francisco—writing my columns about Shanghai and organizing over 100,000 photos from China—I did manage to catch some of the highlight events of the social seasons so I could share them with you.
THE SAN FRANCISCO BALLET GALA OPENING – 2013
The San Francisco Ballet celebrated its 80th anniversary with the annual Opening Night Gala on January 24, 2013—just in time to add sparkle to a quiet January in the city.
This year’s gala theme was “Moving the Compass—Bridging the Globe through the Universal Language of Dance.” The idea that dance can bridge the globe and our cultural differences is a fitting theme for this international city.
The black-tie gala drew over 850 balletomanes from the Bay Area: old and new guard mixing together along with the swan-like socialites, dot-commers, venture capitalists, and a new chic younger set, more than I recall at other black-tie cultural events in town.
Auxiliary members Marie Hurabiell, Blanca Aguirre, Leslie Ryder, Julie Dolan, Alison Mauze, Shelby Strudwick, Deborah Taylor, Rhonda Mahendroo, Cathy Goodman, Laurel Schaffer, Tanya Powell, Jennifer Brandenburg, Kelli Burrill, Joilene Grove, and Beverly Siri Borelli.
ENCORE! board members Ashley Tudor, Jimmy Ho, Jane Burkhard, Robin Farmanfarmaian, Alyson Blume, Amy Puliafito, Brian Gustafson, Ishara Kotagama, Emily Hu, and Wilson Yan.
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