On the Town
Mark Morris, dancers alight at Cow Hollow home for outdoor performance
Mark Morris friends, fans gather for special event.
In the garden of her Cow Hollow hacienda home, Suzy Kellems Dominik posed for photographers on the base of her two-tiered mirrored fountain amid a flutter of frilled Dolce & Gabanna skirts. With its Italian Cypress trees, sprinkling of rustic columns and abundant florals, the “Jardin de Palmeras” (Garden of the Palms), had all the drama of a Cecil B. de Mille sound stage.
The garden was the setting for a special performance by the Mark Morris Dance Group hosted by Kellems Dominik, Shelby Gans and Helen Meyer, all board members at Morris’ Brooklyn dance company, on June 2. The choreographer has had a long relationship with the San Francisco Ballet and Cal Performances, “The Hard Nut,” Morris’ ironic take on Petipa’s classic “Nutcracker” ballet, is among his bestknown works and was for many seasons presented in Berkeley.
“I don’t think Mark’s work is just about dance, it’s about intellectual curiosity,” says Kellems Dominik, whose own vocations include fashion, blogging and art. “Intellectually curious visionaries are very much what San Francisco is about, whether it’s tech, environmental science or the arts.”
The evening, which included excerpts from Morris’ “Words” (a Bay Area premiere) performed by company dancers, also brought attention to the group’s Above and Beyond fundraising campaign, co-chaired by Kellems Dominik. The intimate performance was to be followed by an even more intimate dinner for a select few by Berkeley food pioneer Alice Waters, a longtime friend of Morris.
“This is a fairyland,” Gans said of the garden. “Perfect for a performance.”
The scent of gardenia perfume and nightblooming jasmine was in the air as guests arrived: the San Francisco dancer Mary Power; supersocial event planner Riccardo Benavides; ballet fans Mary Beth Shimmon and Barbara Brown; and Kellums Domink’s daughter Sophia Schneider (who leads Morris’ young people’s group with Nicholas Ma, the son of Yo Yo Ma, wearing an Alaia dress from Mom’s collection.)
Guests snapped up fava bean crostini, razor-thin prosciutto and bountiful platters of colorful local vegetables from Waters’ Chez Panisse.
“I have friends who never eat at parties telling me they’re going into a food coma tonight,” the hostess said, laughing. “That’s the power of Alice Waters.”
The Chez Panisse and Edible Schoolyard founder became friends with Morris during his early years presenting at Cal Performances.
“The restaurant was always the place he wanted to come and eat after performances,” Waters remembered. “Whenever he wanted to come, I always made room.” She said she loves that the choreographer is “just so distinctively himself.”
Cue Morris, who entered wearing head-to-toe dancer black with a bold swath of a pink pashmina thrown over his shoulders. An electric presence, he spoke with a rat-tat-tat precision like the beat of a ballet mistress’ staff. He had just flown in from London following the company’s premiere of its “Pepperland” ballet for the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album (the ballet premieres in New York in fall 2018).
“You know, I’m friends with Isaac,” Morris said, referring to fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi, when he finds out the reporter is with the Style section. “He’s done costumes for many of my pieces; he did a couple pieces for me at San Francisco Ballet. When I have jet lag at 4 in the morning, I watch him doing his live show on QVC. He likes women, and in Isaac’s profession and my profession, there can be a lot of subtle misogyny.
He went on. “To be a male choreographer today — and I’m a male choreographer, by the way — you need to look and listen to what’s going on around you . ... I’ve always been a queer and a feminist.”
Morris then took the “stage” (the cleared patio where the dancers would perform to keyboard accompaniment), announced the program, and ordered that the fountain be turned off. “We’re doing something we never do,” Morris told the crowd, to applause. (“Don’t clap — I didn’t say it was good,” he joked.) “We never perform outside; I hate the outside.”
Pulling out a list, he read some thank-yous.
“The Bay Area is important,” Morris said, deadpan. “”The Bay Area includes the bay,” he paused. “And its area.” He concluded by encouraging guests to “Bring your children to ‘Hard Nut,’ whatever gender pronouns they use.”
Dancers Lesley Garrison and Domingo Estrada Jr., wearing sherbet hued shorts and tank-top costumes that vaguely resembled Sutro Baths bathing suits, performed five movements from “Words,” set to the music of Felix Mendelssohn. They lept, lifted and did the incredible feats of ballet usually executed on a sprung floor on the unforgiving stonescape. Goosebumps began to appear on their bare arms. Guests held their breath, if not always their applause, until the end. Morris watched from behind a tree, pink fringe flapping in the wind.
Afterward, Waters rushed to Morris for a congratulatory kiss. Venture Capitalist and San Francisco Ballet season sponsor Jim Marver, there with his wife Stephanie, commented, “The neighbors must be loving this — I’d be hanging out my window if I was next door.”
As the select few assembled for dinner in Kellems Dominik’s dining room, the hostess was still feeling the thrill of the performance. Leaning against a massive iron gate for one last photo before the light in the Garden of Palms faded, she joked of dancer Estrada, “I’m going to dream about his mustache tonight.”