Golden Ballet Ball raises record $1.8 million
Good luck finding a gold dress in this town any time soon. After Saturday night’s golden 50th anniversary Houston Ballet Ball, they’ve all been snapped up, worn and documented with great ceremony on social media — as one does in celebration of a record $1.8 million raised.
For the third year in a row, the Houston Ballet’s annual ball has benefited from a surprising trajectory. And it just keeps getting better.
Hurricane Harvey flooded the Wortham Center, the ballet’s performance home, back in 2017. The following year, Ballet Ball chairman Hallie Vanderhider injected delicious drama — in the form of a black-and-white “Swan Lake”-themed soirée — into a temporary, tented ballroom next to the Ballet Academy’s building. She made headlines for raising $1.4 million and changing into couture outfits not once but twice. Then in 2019, co-chairs
Kelley Lubanko and Leigh Smith, with their husbands Stephen Lubanko and Reggie Smith, opted for a celestial affair — again, inside the tent. They raised $1.6 million, and afterward, for the second year in a row, late-night revelers flocked to Barbarella, a dance club in Midtown, to keep the party going. So by the time Beth and Nick
Zdeblick were tapped to host 2020’s all-important 50th anniversary gala, they’d discovered the secret ingredient to Ballet Ball success: fun. And a strong theme. Which is how most of their 400 black-tie guests wound up wrapped in gold.
Beth spent nearly a year tweaking and customizing her tulle Oscar de la Renta gown with Tootsies’s creative director Fady
Armanious, who wore an Alexander McQueen tuxedo.
She worked with Richard
Flowers of the Events Company for months to select the perfect tinsellike chandeliers. Ultimately, the duo decided that the heavy metal looked too modern and added traditional crystal in the
French style underneath to soften the effect. That minor edit changed everything. The décor scheme shifted in a new direction, toward timeless elements infused with youth.
Think classic white hydrangea centerpieces cut with spraypainted palm leaves. A delicate feather photo wall to contrast its platinum foil counterpart. A red carpet illuminated by two rows of Hollywood spotlights. Because, remember, this was also the event’s big return to the Wortham.
And no one was more excited for a celebratory homecoming than the dancers themselves. They dressed festively for the occasion and even gave some of the patrons a sartorial run for their money. Demi-soloist Natalie
Varnum wore crimson Giambattista Valli for H&M with a high-low train. Soloist Harper Watters wore a bespoke Ricky King Western suit, complete with white cowboy boots and a matching hat.
His rodeo-ready look came in handy once Sound House and the Tribute performed Lil Nas X’s smash country hit, “Old Town Road featuring Billy Ray Cyrus.” That’s when Watters giddied-up onstage to show off his moves, which have since gone viral thanks to the power of Instagram.
Though Watters’ impressive two-stepping was an impromptu treat, first soloist Oliver Halkowich’s choreographed piece proved a timely undertaking. After dinner — more on that later — dozens of past and present Houston Ballet dancers, including Lauren Anderson, as well as artistic director Stanton Welch and executive director Jim Nelson, leaped from their seats to waltz between the tables. For the grand finale, a 9-foot cake adorned with 50 extra-large “birthday” candles appeared just moments before a confetti shower rained down on galagoers.
This, mind you, followed Jackson and Company’s golden caviar macaron and potato panna cotta with black truffle, lobster bisque, beef tenderloin with polenta and a gorgonzola tart, and “Chocolat à la Margaret!” in tribute to honoree Margaret Alkek Williams.
Later, as Veuve Clicquot champagne was poured, a quartet from Elan Artists performed a string of popular boy-band songs by NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys and more. At one point, Caroline
Tudor, daughter of honorary chairs Phoebe and Bobby Tudor, followed Watters’ lead and hopped onstage, too.
The festivities raged until midnight. Attendees went home with birthday-cake-shaped cookies and plenty of confetti in their hair.
They say not all that glitters is gold — except when it is.