Inside the Ballet’s 50th Anniversary Bash
By Evan W. Black, Photos by Wilson Parish
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Stanton Welch and Lynn Wyatt -
Marshall Heins and Christina Stith -
Margaret Alkek Williams -
Ian Casady, Marguerite Swartz, Mary Sage and Chris Coome -
The opening-night onstage dinner -
Emily and Ryan LeVasseur, Allison Thacker and Sylvester Turner -
Anne and Albert Chao
Fifty has never looked better! The Houston Ballet’s milestone-anniversary season kicked off with a special celebration at the Wortham. A performance of Giselle — which was actually the show, put on by a troupe of Houston dancers in 1967, that prompted the city to explore having its own company — was followed by a seated onstage dinner. Tables, chairs and even a string quartet were nestled invitingly among set pieces; floral arrangements featuring blush, cream and hints of gold, a nod to the golden anniversary, were eye-catching. Dinner — medallions of herb-crusted beef tenderloin, walnut-filled Champagne-poached pear — was also fit for royalty. The evening, chaired by Jesse H. Jones II and honoring Lynn Wyatt for her many contributions to the Ballet over the decades, garnered more than $230,000. Encore!
