For almost half a century, Buckhead has maintained a love affair with Atlanta Ballet. With several Buckhead studio locations over the years, today Atlanta Ballet’s Buckhead Centre is located in the Chastain Square Shopping Center.
On the last day of September, Buckhead’s St. Regis hotel once again hosted Atlanta Ballet’s annual Corps de Ballet Fashion Show and Luncheon. Buckhead’s own Neiman Marcus presented the clothes for the fashion runway show. The event grossed almost half a million dollars that will go to support educational dance programs and community outreach dance programs offered at various Atlanta schools and Atlanta Ballet’s Buckhead Centre.
Corps de Ballet Fashion Show and Luncheon
For those who adore dressing up and spending time with good friends, this year’s Corps de Ballet Fashion Show and Luncheon did not disappoint. Actually, it was more than lunch and friends. It was an intimate ballet performance and a Neiman Marcus fashion show. The luncheon always has this way of making us attendees feel deeply beautiful.
The moment I strolled into the St. Regis hotel, I was ushered to the check-in line, which happened to curve up an elegant grand staircase leading to the St. Regis’ well-appointed Mezzanine. The grand staircase rivaled the steps Grace Kelly glided down in the movie To Catch A Thief. You know the ones, in the iconic Hotel Carlton on the French Riviera. After taking my place in the check-in line, a sterling silver tray appeared and I was gifted a flute of bubbly. Right then, I felt I’d fallen into a fairy tale. And maybe I had.
It’s not that the St. Regis lunch fare wasn’t memorable, it just quickly became overshadowed by what the charming afternoon unabashedly gave us. We clapped, murmured, and sometimes boomed as the models sauntered down the center stage showcasing the fall season’s must-haves.
When the ballet dancers arrived, a hush fell over our world. We saw the gleam in the dancers’ eyes, we were that close. They mesmerized us. We thought of nothing except them.
Then the music stopped. We became greedy and wanted more. But bows and curtsies happened. The stage went bare. Two-and-a-half hours passed like eleven minutes. No one left. We had to linger. The tables were long cleared off before the last group of ladies and two men were finally, kindly, ushered away.
After returning home, I stepped out of my shoes. But I waited to change clothes. I needed to relish in the enchanting day just one hour longer because it seemed impossible to wait a full 365 days until I get the chance to feel like Grace Kelly again. The day was that special.
Not only is Buckhead home to Atlanta Ballet’s annual Corps de Ballet Fashion and Luncheon, Buckhead has housed Atlanta Ballet studios for decades. As a teenager, I took ballet at their Cains Hill Place studio. That location was so perfectly located for my sweet tooth because in between classes I snuck away and ran up the street to Irby Avenue’s Henri’s Bakery. There, I’d purchase a colossal cream horn, exactly like the ones Henri’s still sells in their pastry cases.
Today, Atlanta Ballet’s Buckhead Centre in the Chastain Square Shopping Center offers classes for all ages, from Tiny Dancer classes for two year olds through Silver Swans for students aged 55 and older. 4279 Roswell Road, 404-303-1501. https://centre.atlantaballet.com
