A crowd of more than 500 attended the American Ballet Theatre fall gala at Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday evening, and between the final intermission and conclusion of the premiere performances, producers turned the recently redesigned grand promenade into a purple dining room that opened up for a dance floor covered in moving projections.
Working with A.B.T. director of special events Wendy Fisher, Shai Tertner of Shiraz Events conceived a look that aimed to complement the troupe's contemporary and unconventional programming with dark colors and silhouettes inspired by artist Kara Walker.
Tertner covered each of the circular dining tables in purple satin linens, and topped them with glass bowls lit by single candles and draped with imported black star calla lilies. The purple on the table extended to the floor and up several stories, where lighting from Frost covered the hall in different hues.
"Until the last intermission, the house lights were on, and everything was off to the side," said Tertner. "I think everyone was surprised to see the scene when they walked out of the performance, because we only had 27 minutes to bring in all of the tables, light the candles, and turn on all of the lights."
The venue's speedy transformation from lobby to dining room wasn't the only change during the evening though. Instead of constructing an actual dance floor, Tertner defined the designated area with moving images from black-and-white movies—all stained purple, of course.
"Later on in the evening, after people started dancing, we changed the image into something more active," said Tertner. DJ Sky Nellor spun tracks that prompted new images of urban traffic to move and shift in time with the music.
