Plus, in a lower-level space known as the “Moody Lounge,” guests took in performances from some of Chicago’s best known drag and transgender performers. There were pop-up dance performances, stilt walkers blowing bubbles, magicians, and costumed performers atop pedestals surrounded in curtains of fringe. The evening kicked off with cocktails and a performance from the ballet company afterward, guests were invited to explore entertainment spread out over three levels. The entertainment was also entirely shaken up. And while in the past the gala enforced a strict black-tie dress code, this year the hosts asked guests to show up “untied, fancy, but fresh.” While past years’ dinners included assigned seating and plated courses, this year’s event saw guests piling their plates at scattered buffet stations and taking their seats anywhere they liked-candlelit rounds, lounge seating, and highboy tables were all options. Our co-chairs … are entrepreneurial, out-of-the-box thinkers, and were not afraid of making major changes and rethinking the entire event format from top to bottom.”
“With our move to the Lyric Opera House in the fall of 2020, this was the perfect year to make bold choices and offer guests a preview of the Joffrey experience in our future home. “The Joffrey Ballet is known as an innovative force in the industry and our gala should reflect that spirit,” said Chelsea Robinson, the Joffrey Ballet director of special events. True to its name, the event strayed from its past iterations in almost every way possible.įormerly held between the Auditorium Theatre (where there was a performance) and a downtown hotel (where an ensuing dinner-dance took place), the 2019 gala took place entirely at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, which will become the company’s home base soon. And by looking around, it was clear that the sentiment was true-especially this year, when the gala switched from its traditional format to something entirely different.įor the 2019 event, the ballet company’s women’s board, led by co-chairs Laura Kofoid and Coco Meers, decided to christen the gala with a new name: the UNgala. Photo: Cindy Fandl CHICAGO-“This isn’t your grandmother’s ballet company,” said a transgender cabaret singer at the Joffrey Ballet’s 17th annual gala on April 12. Frost bathed the Lyric Opera House in fiery hues of orange, red, pink, and gold lighting. Some 800 guests attended the revamped gala, which was designed by HMR Designs' creative director Bill Heffernan.
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