Black Tie Gala
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
Last Saturday evening, my husband Andrew and I attended a black tie gala sponsored by a local chapter of USA Dance. The theme was “Black Tie On Broadway” and the event was attended by over 200 social dancers (and even a few competitors) from the North Carolina and surrounding area. It was held in Greensboro, NC, at the Koury Convention Center.
We began the evening with a receiving line. The women wore beautiful gowns, the men looked so dapper in their tuxedos. Their friendly reception started the evening off right.
We were assigned to table 18, Spamalot. As the usher escorted me under a decorated arch and to our table, he said that it had nothing to do with computers or spam. I replied that I thought it was a broadway spoof of Camelot. I think I would have rather had South Pacific or something like that, but luckily th
e playbill decorating my side of the table was for Wicked and not Spamalot.
The tables were decorated with clear glass bowls half filled with water in which several candles were floating. A tall stand was placed in the middle of the bowl which rose high above the table with a playbill from a broadway show. The colors for the even were a sophisticated black and silver.
Top hat party hats and silver stars decorated the stage where the band played. Behind them was a huge collage of Broadway - probably 20 feet tall and 30 or more feet wide. Broadway themed “street signs” marked the center and edge of the dance floor.
There was a small amount of pre-dinner dancing, and then we enjoyed the live music throughout our meal. We had the usual non-descript chicken. I think I should have asked for the vegetarian meal. It seems to always be better somehow. The dessert was very attractively served in martini glasses - fruit, custard, and a whipped topping.
The main dancing for the evening was to recorded music. Because it can be chosen to have stricter tempos, appropriate tempos for each type of dance, clear beats, no long introductions or strange endings, and can be selected from more styles than any one musical group can provide, it makes more satisfactory music to dance to most of the time.
Much of the music was chosen from among Broadway show tunes. Hello Dolly, Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, and many more caught my attention.
Andrew and I danced most of the dances, either with each other or with other partners, including my parents, our former instructions, and friends we have made through dancing.
We don’t dance the Viennese waltz (and probably never will - I can get motion sickness in an elevator). We haven’t learned the quickstep yet, but would love to at some point.
Andrew doesn’t mambo, but I have a friend who will mambo with me. I don’t generally like the merengue, but our first dance instructor always makes it fun.
In addition to the mambo and merengue, we danced waltzes, foxtrots, tangos, rhumbas, cha-chas, and East coast swings. We tend to sit out boleros because our range is pretty limited there.
We were both very exhausted by the end of the dance. I’m always starving afterward. I don’t really like to eat much before dancing. We made a quick trip to get a snack and then finally made it back home by 2:00 a.m. It was quite an evening. I can’t wait for next year. There’s really nothing quite as magical as the annual black tie gala.
Laurie
