Nick Bentgen
The New York City Ballet Spring Gala at Lincoln Center—one of the most highly anticipated fetes of the year—celebrates the company’s storied history and evolution, with dinner, dancing and a performance featuring two new ballets on May 10. Natalie Portman, who won an Academy Award for her role in 2010’s ballet thriller Black Swan, chairs the event, but the centerpiece of the evening is the world debut of a new work choreographed by principal dancer Benjamin Millepied (Portman’s husband) to a newly commissioned score by Nico Muhly. Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, who designed the costumes for Black Swan, did the same honors for this piece.
The company will also debut a work by Peter Martins, and revive George Balanchine’s iconic Symphony in C, which French composer Georges Bizet created when he was a 17-year-old student at the Paris Conservatory. The Balanchine number will feature all-new costumes laden with Swarovski crystals. A cocktail reception and a black-tie supper ball—complete with dinner and dancing on the promenade—will bookend the ballets. Single tickets start at $5,000; tables start at $25,000; May 10; 212-870-5585; nycballet.com.
