It wasn't your typical holiday party, which is exactly the way Jason Riggs planned it. About 1,000 employees of the Corcoran Group, New York's most buzzworthy real estate firm, gathered at Crobar for a post-New Year's celebration.
Riggs, Corcoran's event director, hired Bryan Jacobson of Corporate Events Manhattan to handle décor, catering and overall production. Jacobsen transformed the club into a three-city tour of the company's key markets: the Hamptons, Palm Beach and New York. (With so many employees traveling in December and the dust barely settled on the company's expansion into the Hamptons and Palm Beach markets, January seemed like a more sensible date for the holiday party.)
"I wanted something trendy and cutting edge—something a little less traditional," Riggs said.
Each of the three rooms featured a bar, a buffet and a carefully crafted, distinct vibe. An elaborate orchid chandelier designed by CEM hung just outside the Palm Beach room. Named after that city's popular resort, the Breakers, the room featured tables dressed with single palm leaves and a surprisingly convincing Elton John impersonator, who, midway through the evening, changed into a pink wig and a black robe covered with silver stars. Over in the Hamptons, decorated with oversize vases of white hydrangeas, servers in white tuxes and crisp polo shirts presented shrimp cocktail on Wilson tennis rackets.
Many of the company's employees dressed to match their home cities, defying the frigid Manhattan weather with madras shorts, flirty skirts, sunglasses and flip-flops. (One employee, wearing a straw hat and puffing on what looked like a fake pipe, took the Palm Beach theme a bit too far when he dropped a fake $100 dollar bill for a tip. "I'm not amused," the bartender remarked.)
True to life, the most sought-out location was the room showcasing New York. Acting as DJ, Jacobson brought various types of music—like hip-hip, house and lounge music—to life with eclectic entertainment. At one end, underground dance troupe the Butoh Rockettes, wearing Elizabethan collars and indifferent expressions, performed an act that blended ballet with performance art, while skin-baring go-go dancers raised on platforms in different parts of the room elicited hoots and hollers from a transfixed audience. "We wanted to give guests the real New York experience," Jacobson said.
Mission accomplished. Just one hour after the event began—long before alcohol consumption could be used as an excuse—the employees replaced the professional dancers and, unbuttoning their shirt collars, exposed some of their own skin. (Miniature hot dogs served on top of garbage can lids provided sustenance for the hungry dancers.) But the true finale came when aerialists—formerly with Cirque du Soleil—performed with an electric violinist.
—Michele Marchetti
Riggs, Corcoran's event director, hired Bryan Jacobson of Corporate Events Manhattan to handle décor, catering and overall production. Jacobsen transformed the club into a three-city tour of the company's key markets: the Hamptons, Palm Beach and New York. (With so many employees traveling in December and the dust barely settled on the company's expansion into the Hamptons and Palm Beach markets, January seemed like a more sensible date for the holiday party.)
"I wanted something trendy and cutting edge—something a little less traditional," Riggs said.
Each of the three rooms featured a bar, a buffet and a carefully crafted, distinct vibe. An elaborate orchid chandelier designed by CEM hung just outside the Palm Beach room. Named after that city's popular resort, the Breakers, the room featured tables dressed with single palm leaves and a surprisingly convincing Elton John impersonator, who, midway through the evening, changed into a pink wig and a black robe covered with silver stars. Over in the Hamptons, decorated with oversize vases of white hydrangeas, servers in white tuxes and crisp polo shirts presented shrimp cocktail on Wilson tennis rackets.
Many of the company's employees dressed to match their home cities, defying the frigid Manhattan weather with madras shorts, flirty skirts, sunglasses and flip-flops. (One employee, wearing a straw hat and puffing on what looked like a fake pipe, took the Palm Beach theme a bit too far when he dropped a fake $100 dollar bill for a tip. "I'm not amused," the bartender remarked.)
True to life, the most sought-out location was the room showcasing New York. Acting as DJ, Jacobson brought various types of music—like hip-hip, house and lounge music—to life with eclectic entertainment. At one end, underground dance troupe the Butoh Rockettes, wearing Elizabethan collars and indifferent expressions, performed an act that blended ballet with performance art, while skin-baring go-go dancers raised on platforms in different parts of the room elicited hoots and hollers from a transfixed audience. "We wanted to give guests the real New York experience," Jacobson said.
Mission accomplished. Just one hour after the event began—long before alcohol consumption could be used as an excuse—the employees replaced the professional dancers and, unbuttoning their shirt collars, exposed some of their own skin. (Miniature hot dogs served on top of garbage can lids provided sustenance for the hungry dancers.) But the true finale came when aerialists—formerly with Cirque du Soleil—performed with an electric violinist.
—Michele Marchetti
Underground dance troupe the Butoh Rockettes performed at the Corcoran Group's holiday party at Crobar.
A surprisingly convincing Elton John impersonator performed at the event.
Servers clad in NYC-branded T-shirts staffed the New York-themed buffet table.
Flower arrangements with yellow roses and white hydrangea decorated the Hamptons-inspired area.
