Miami City Ballet
And the Board of Trustees
Welcome you to

West Side Story Gala
A Sixth Borough Spectacular

Thursday, March 30, 2023
Sunset Vista Ballroom
Miami Beach Convention Center

Leslie Kavanaugh & Eve S. Rounds – Event Co-Chairs

Lourdes Lopez – Artistic Director

Juan José Escalante – Executive Director

Jeff Davis – Chair of the Board of Trustees

Toby Lerner Ansin – Founder, Miami City Ballet

Charmaine Waterfield – Auction Chair

Nigel Lythgoe OBE – Master of Ceremonies

Nicholas D. Lowry – Auctioneer & President, Swann Auction Galleries

Supporting Cast

Charles Adelman
Veronica de Zayas
Janine Gordon
Kristi Jernigan
Natasha Markova
Lisa Kott Massirman
Nadia Manuel
Natalia Papowitz
Gerard Riveron
Paige Sloniker
Saul Sanders
Suzy Wahba

One Hand, One Heart

Ford Foundation

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

I Have a Love

Deborah and Charles Adelman

Toby Lerner Ansin and Family

Alex Blavatnik

Jeffrey Davis and Michael T. Miller

Leslie and Jack Kavanaugh

Eve and Jonathan Rounds

Barbara and John Vogelstein

I Feel Pretty

Sarah Arison

Kathy and Steve Guttman

Kristi and Dean Jernigan

Susan D. Kronick and Edward Manno Shumsky

Suzy and Sadek Wahba

Tonight

Ana-Marie and Robert Barlick

Lester N. Coney

Caroline and Paul Cronson

Janice Feirstein

Lisa Kott Massirman

Mary and Saul Sanders

Maria

Jill Braufman and Daniel Nir

Wendy and David Dodson

Margaret and Mike Eidson

Linda Hothem and Eli Gerhard

Lorraine and Richard Gilden

Jacob’s Pillow, with underwriting by Joan and Jim Hunter

Samantha Lang-Jacobs

Rhoda Levitt

Dr. Frayda B. Lindemann

Marjorie Stone & Rick Rodriguez

Charmaine and J. Randall Waterfield

Holly Wright

Corporate Partners

Accenture

BALMAIN

BluGlacier Salmon

Baptist Health

FRED BLACK

Holland & Knight

OutClique Magazine

Silverbrick Group

Stearns, Weaver, Miller, Weissler, Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A./ RK & LB

Van Cleef & Arpels

Benefactors

Maria T. Brolley

Daniel A. Celentano

Pamela Garrison

Dini and Michael Golden

Janine Gordon and Alvin Schechter

Lawrence Herbert

Kinga and Edward Lampert

Missy and Barry Skolnick

Carmen Tagle and Alan Rose

Mary and Cynthia Van Pelt

Silent Auction Donors

1st Dibs.com, Inc.

Abbalé

Charles Adelman

Alicia Adams Alpaca

Jason and Hana Ader Family Foundation

Michael Aram

Merrill Ashley

Tania Babic and Kevin Maloney

Bagatelle

Balmain

Dr. Stefanie Biederlack

Contessa Miami

Decorator’s Plumbing

Dermatology Boutique

Doma Restaurant

Edition Residences

James Faddy

Fisher Island Club

The Flower Bazaar

Frudeco Bakery

Greater Miami Skin & Laser Center

Guadalupe Design

Stacy Hastie

Hats Off Party & Events

The Heat Group

Hillstone – Bal Harbour

Hillstone – Coral Gables

Houston’s North Miami Beach

I Salon

Jo Malone London – Miami Beach

Joe’s Stone Crab

The Joyce Theater Foundation

Lisa the Organizer, LLC

Ernesto Maranje

Aude Mathon

Morgenthal Frederics

Mr. Chow Restaurant

Neiman Marcus

Piononos

Plant Professionals

Red Market Miami

Yolanda Reyneke

Gerard Riveron

Saul Sanders

Sea Grill

Sean Donaldson Hair

The Setai – Miami Beach

Shoreline Resortwear

Skincare by Amy Peterson

Smith & Wollensky

South Florals

The Stillman Family

Taja Collection

Zhanna Torres

Charmaine and J. Randall Waterfield

Barbara and Ron Young

Welcome Remarks

Nigel Lythgoe OBE

Leslie Kavanaugh and Eve Rounds, Gala Co-Chairs

Presentation of MCB’s Leadership in the Arts Award to

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Accepted by President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen

Presentation of the Diamond Award to

Lourdes Lopez, MCB Artistic Director

Performance of "Cool" and “America” from Jerome Robbins’s West Side Story Suite

Miami City Ballet Company

Accompanied by vocalists Nathalie Avila, Marcela Galvis, and Zoe Spangler and Ciro Foderé on piano

Spotlight Presentation

Zoe Twigg and Joanna Wright, MCBS Students, and Durante Verzola

Performance of Petite Danse by Durante Verzola

Miami City Ballet School Students

Give From the Heart

With Nicholas D. Lowry

After Party

Dessert and Dancing

First Course

Traditional Gazpacho with Crostini and Edible Flower Garnish

Main Course

Grilled Filet of Salmon with Lemon Butter Sauce

Center Cut Filet of Beef with Turnip Purée and Roasted Wild Mushrooms

Selection of Mini Desserts

Offered in the After-Party

White Chocolate Passion Fruit Cake

Queso Crema Flan with Guava Glaze

Piña Colada Rum Bundt Cake

Chocolate Mousse Cake with Coconut Whipped Cream

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has been a generous supporter of Miami City Ballet with over $13 million in cumulative giving since the Company’s founding. Knight Foundation is a social investor that supports a more effective democracy by funding free expression and journalism, arts and culture in community, research in areas of media and democracy, and in the success of American cities and towns where the Knight brothers once published newspapers. Knight Foundation’s recent $40.7 million investment in South Florida arts organizations that use technology in their practices to enhance the way art is produced, shared, and experienced includes a $2 million technology grant to Miami City Ballet. For more, visit KF.org.

Lourdes Lopez is notably one of the ballet world’s most prominent and accomplished contributors. She became Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet in 2012, bringing with her a nearly 40-year career in dance, television, teaching and arts management. Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1958 and raised in Miami, Lopez began taking ballet lessons at the age of five. At age eleven, she was granted a full scholarship to the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet. Five years later, she joined that Company under the direction of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, and her star rose quickly. She became the first (and only) Latina Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet, from which she retired in 1997. Lopez is also the first artist to sit on the Board of Trustees of the Ford Foundation and is currently serving her second term.

Miami City Ballet School has been training and nurturing dancers for 30 years to become one of the country’s premiere ballet academies. Its dedicated faculty has cultivated many noteworthy careers, and nearly fifty percent of the Company is made up of former MCB School students. Awarding over $600,000 in scholarships annually, and hosting national and international audition tours, students from around the globe can train at the world-class facility. MCB School also offers students unique performing opportunities in such major productions as George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Firebird and, most recently, Swan Lake.

Program Note

West Side Story Suite

Choreography by Jerome Robbins

Co-choreographed by Peter Gennar

Music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim*

Staged by Jean-Pierre Frohlich

Costume Design by Irene Sharaff

Set Design by Oliver Smith

Scenic Supervision by Rosario Sinisi

Lighting Design by Jennifer Tipton

Recreated by Les Dickert

In 1995 – almost forty years after his great musical West Side Story opened on Broadway – Jerome Robbins decided to distill and reshape it into a dance work for New York City Ballet. The result is an electrifying and moving ballet that both shadows the original and stands alone as a thrilling original.

Once again we are galvanized by the glorious music of Leonard Bernstein, the brilliant lyrics of Stephen Sondheim (Yes! The dancers sing!), and the tragic arc of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. And we experience a new, deeply felt spiritual culmination that reminds us of just how groundbreaking, how unique, West Side Story was. Like the show that inspired it, like the Oscar-winning movie version that followed, West Side Story Suite has been a tremendous hit from the day of its premiere.

MCB premiere: Feb. 14, 2014, Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami, FL.

*West Side Story Suite is used by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., Sole Agent for Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC, publisher and copyright owner.

Performed by permission of the Robbins Rights Trust.

Casting

Cool

America

Program Note

Petite Danse

Choreography by Durante Verzola

Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Petite Danse is choreographed by school alumni and current MCBS faculty member Durante Verzola for students from Level 4 of the school. He hopes to show the youthfulness, hopefulness, and purity of movement of our young students. Clarity, expressive upper body, precision, and musicality —all qualities given importance at Miami City Ballet School—can be seen through the young dancers. Using Mozart’s music, the audience can witness the bright future of the next generation of dancers up on stage

Casting

Carolina Rodriguez

Caroline Jacobs

Evangeline Faraldo

Grace Eaton

Grace Milam

Inathi Tsotetsi

Janie Strazzacappa

Lara Chiang

Rachele Rama

Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez

Executive Director Juan José Escalante

Chair, Board of Trustees Jeff Davis

Founder Toby Lerner Ansin

Founding Artistic Director Edward Villella

Production and Lighting Director John D. Hall

Principal Conductor Gary Sheldon

Principal Rehearsal Director Roma Sosenko

Rehearsal Directors Joan Latham, Arnold Quintane

Company Pianist Francisco Rennó

Miami City Ballet Board of Trustees

Directors

Jeff Davis, Chair

Charles Adelman

Jill E. Braufman

Veronica de Zayas, Esq.

Margaret Eidson

Juan José Escalante

Robert Friezo

Kathy Guttman

Bruce Halpryn

Alina Hudak

Kristi Jernigan

Mamie Joeveer

Susan Kronick

Lourdes Lopez

Manny Marquez

Lisa Kott Massirman

Eleanor Pao

Saul Sanders

Michael Schultz

John Vogelstein

Trustees

Sara Minskoff Allan

Madeline Anbinder

Stephen Anbinder

Toby Lerner Ansin

Merrill Ashley

Robert Chaskes

Lester Coney

Neil Devlin

Jim Freeze

Sheila O'Malley Fuchs

Dini Albert Golden

Janine Gordon

Francinelee Hand

Pearl Johnson

Elissa Kramer

Karen Krause

Mimi Kuppin

Allen London

Rosalind Richter

Eve Rounds

Sara Solomon

Suzy Wahba

Gail Wasserman

Holly Wright

Diana S.C. Zeydel