By Elise Knutsen 3/07 1:45pm

The Shindigger

Diana DiMenna at the School of American Ballet's Winter Ball

Dance, Dance, Pre-Revolution: The School of American Ballet’s Winter Ball

“Honestly, there is nothing like it,” Dianna DiMenna told The Observer Monday evening. “The beauty, the discipline, the lineage, the heritage, the history!” she gushed. While Ms. DiMenna’s lavish words may have applied to a great many ventures beloved by the city’s gentility, she was in fact referring to ballet. As the evening’s prima, she greeted guests in the marbled lobby of the David H. Koch Theater with that particular hostess’s élan, kissing elegant consoeurs and their bow-tied husbands. The decorous crowd had gathered for the School of American Ballet’s Winter Ball, and there was surely no shortage of pomp or circumstance. Read More

By Joe Conason 8/24/10 10:43pm

Op-Ed

The Billionaire Right-Winger

Despite the kaleidoscopic proliferation of political media over the past decade, most of what Americans hear and read about the workings of our democracy can be politely termed superficial. Only very rarely does journalism fully penetrate the glittering illusions created by partisans on every side to reveal the grittier realities. When a reporter Read More

By Zachary Woolfe 11/06/09 5:58pm

City Opera’s Big Night: They Seem to be Adopting Wainwright

Opening night at New York City Opera felt like New York City Opera can sometimes feel: like the Metropolitan Opera, but scrunched up. Rather than unfolding majestically along Lincoln Center like the Met’s, City Opera’s red carpet was crammed into the lobby. Then, when the gala ended, those who hadn’t been invited to the post-concert Read More