Black Tie & Tales

+ Everything is beautiful at the ballet
Balletomanes may be the most enthusiastic of arts lovers. It certainly appeared so at Balanchine-Tuckett-Bruce presented by the Sarasota Ballet Nov. 21 and Nov. 22. The performances featured live music by the Sarasota Ballet Orchestra and, for Tuckett’s Lux Aeterna, the Key Chorale. Joseph Caulkins conducted both. The ballet presented Lux Aeterna in January of this year, but this was its first appearance here with live music ­— and so emotional an experience that Managing Director Mary Anne Servian and board President Hillary Steele were encouraging their friends to bring plenty of tissues.

The Bruce piece was the Sarasota premiere of “Sergeant Early’s Dream.” At the post performance reception on opening night, director Iain Webb described asking Christopher Bruce if his relationship with the Houston Ballet was an exclusive one, to which Mr. Bruce replied, “I’m not exclusive with anyone,” leading to collaboration between the Sarasota and Houston companies.

Ballet Master and Repetiteur James Jordan, who joined Sarasota Ballet from Kansas City earlier this year, was at the reception, enthusing about the “great camaraderie among the artists of the Sarasota Ballet and the healthful competition.” 

“Iain can really pick ‘em,” he said.

+ Baby on board
Jennifer Compton and Nikki Taylor hosted a French-inspired baby shower for Meghan Serrano’s baby-girl-to-be Saturday, Dec. 6, at Lolita Tartine. The shower featured a pink Champagne toast and a traditional French marzipan and buttercream cake with fresh berries — with well wishes for the baby written in French on the top of the cake. The room décor was French chic and the takeaway girly gifts were from Lollicake Queen. Spotted at the shower: Adria Jensen, Marjorie Broughton, Jane Thompson, Molly Kasperson and Kathryn Carr.

+ Tidbits
Bet you can’t top this … Sarasota is appropriately agog over the Asolo Rep’s exciting new production of “South Pacific,” nobody more so than philanthropist Edie Winston, who owns up to having been taken by her father to the premiere of the original Broadway production in 1949. No arithmetic, please. Winston is a remarkable woman; when somebody cited the 43 patents she holds, she gently corrected them: “It’s 44 now.” This is the same Edie who recently donated $50,000 to the Artists Series Concerts of Sarasota for the Herb and Edith Winston Endowment Fund … The Bar Mitzvah Boys, Take Two … Michael Klauber and Phil Mancini received personalized aprons at the recent AJC dinner and shooter Cliff Roles photographed them. Roles left immediately after but had to return to collect some gear. Good thing, too, because by then, the AJC honorees had figured out they were mis-robed and put on their correct aprons … Looking better than ever … Two Sarasota businesswomen have walked the runway in Designing Woman Boutique’s Annual Gala and Fashion Show since its inception in 2005: Dr. Anne Chauvet, the veterinary neurosurgeon who owns Rosemary Vet, and Sandra Day, the aesthetician who owns NeoDerm skincare. Hard work seems to agree with them; they were looking better than ever at the event’s 10th anniversary on Dec. 7 … Pug love … Deb Knowles Kabinoff was spotted donning what could be the cutest Judith Leiber bag created at the Dec. 6 Hot Dogs and Cool Cats “Laugh Your Paws Off” Gala. The pug-shaped purse is not only perfect in itself, but the story behind how Kabinoff acquired it is, too — the purse was Janet Kane’s, and after she died, the family gave it to Kabinoff, as an appreciation for their friendship and mutual love for dogs, especially those with flat faces.

+ Black Tie Affair
La Fille mal Gardée Holiday Dinner
Benefiting: Sarasota Ballet Outreach Program
When: 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19
Where: Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
Tickets: $125
Contact: 225-6510