Alameda Civic Ballet Silent Auction
February 23, 2008 from 7 - 11PM
Tickets are $60 in advance, $70 at the door.
For tickets call 510.337.1929 (you can pay by check or credit card) or use PayPal.
party with us at the elegant Bayside Pavilion, 2203 Mariner Square Loop, Alameda (click here for map).
Alameda Civic Ballet perform “Les Bons Temps” (”The Good Times”)
to live music by the Bay Area's Cajun Zydeco King -
Tom Rigney & Flambeau and take free dance lessons!
delicious New Orleans cuisine catered by Patrick David's.
to MC - Kathy Moehring and local musicians Natasha Miller, Jeff Oster and Kelly Park.
Alameda Civic Ballet is donating 10% of the proceeds from the Silent Auction to a newly created performing arts fund in collaboration with the Alameda Education Foundation.
Alameda Civic Ballet and the Alameda
by Karin Jensen
Mardi Gras is coming to Alameda! Alameda Civic Ballet (ACB) invites the community to join in a fabulous gala celebration on February 23rd in honor of Mardi Gras. Participants will watch ACB's original New Orleans inspired ballet, "Les Bon Temps!", eat delicious Cajun inspired cuisine by Patrick David's Fine Catering, bid on gifts, and dance to the scorching hot Zydeco music of Tom Rigney and his band, Flambeau. Other featured performers will include Alameda's own Natasha Miller, Jeff Oster, and Kelly Park. The event will be held at the Bayside Pavilion at Mariner Square, where the ten thousand square foot facility features a waterfall entryway, arched vaulted ceilings, and player grand piano. In short, this is an event not to be missed.
Never celebrated Carnival? Here's your chance to learn about this famous event in your own backyard. Mardi Gras (French for Fat Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival which begins twelve days after Christmas. The celebration dates back to Roman times when ancient revelers celebrated Lupercalia, a February festival associated with Faunus or the Satyr. When Rome embraced Christianity, the celebration was reinterpreted as a Carnival period of abandon and merriment that preceded the penance of Lent. Mardi Gras came to America in 1699 with the French explorer Iberville who set up camp on a bank of the Mississippi River 60 miles south of what would become New Orleans. He arrived on the day Mardi Gras was being celebrated in France and named the site Point du Mardi Gras. New Orleans has been the center of the American celebration of Mardi Gras ever since.
Now the celebration comes to Alameda. The traditional colors of Mardi Gras - purple (for justice), green (for faith), and gold (for power) - will be in evidence everywhere, including in the ACB dancers' costumes. Revelers are invited not only to wear these colors but to don the traditional masks (however, costumes are admired, but not required.) Cajun cuisine, originating from the French speaking "Cajun" immigrants of Louisiana will be served. For this event, Patrick David's Fine Catering will serve such culinary delights as chicken and seafood gumbo with andouille sausage, lump crab cakes with Cajun tartar sauce, and milk chocolate brioche bread pudding.
Tom Rigney, a virtuoso violinist, and his band, Flambeau, will play Zydeco music, an American folk music originating from the multi-racial French speaking Creoles of southwest Louisiana. The soulful, heavily syncopated music is often fast-tempoed, joyful, and sets toes to tapping. Denise and Scott Brady of Alameda Vintage Dancers will teach Zydeco steps to all participants who would like to dance.
Alameda Civic Ballet's ballet, "Les Bon Temps!" is named after the iconic cry among New Orleans Mardi Gras revelers, "Laissez les bon temps rouler!" (Let the good times roll!). The ballet was choreographed by ACB's director, Abra Rudisill, and excerpts will be performed to Tom Rigney's live Zydeco dance music at the celebration. The ballet reflects both the joyful wildness of the Mardi Gras celebration as well as the poignancy of a last revelry before the Lenten period of penance and self-sacrifice. Traditional Zydeco music often has a call and response quality, and this is reflected in the choreography, with groups of dancers playfully responding to each other's steps.
Finally, participants will have the opportunity to participate in a Silent Auction and bid on a variety of gift certificates, services, trips and tickets to theater productions, museums, and more. Proceeds benefit Alameda Civic Ballet and the Alameda Education Foundation's Performing Arts Fund, which has the goal of bringing district school children to the theater to see the performing arts on stage. So come eat, drink, dance, and be merry for a good cause. Tickets are $60 in advance and $70 at the door. A no host bar will be available. To purchase tickets, call 510-337-1929.