Texas Ballet Theater Celebrates The Closing Of Its 2023-2024 Season With A French-Themed Soirée

Inside The Lavish, Beauty and the Beast-Inspired Fort Worth Event

BY Courtney Dabney // 06.03.24

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Fort Worth Texas Ballet Theater dinner Event Chair Lynsey Blair.

Lynsey Blair, Susan Medina, Joy Trigg, Barbara Schweitzer.

Front row left to right: Doug Bratton, Anne Marie Bratton, Lauren Puff, Tom Puff. Back row: Miles Bratton, Kacie Bratton, Chris Mahaffey, Anne Mahaffey, Alexandra Bratton, Lilly Cowan.

Texas Ballet Theater Fort Worth's French-themed dinner tablescape.

Left to right: Kevin Connelly, Christian Schroder, Tom Bessant, Julie Butner, Karen Schroder. Back row: Cheryl McDonald, Lise Bessant, James Meintjes, Greg Butner.

Left to right front row: Maegan Askew, Barbara Lott, Shelby White, Katie Soule. Back row left to right: Andrea Palmer, Tiffany Wolfe, Helen Tannehill, Brittany Christian, Amy Singleterry, Sara Fender.

Lou Martin, Fred Rabalais, Ginny Tigue, Joe Tigue, Kris Lindsay, Jerry Lindsay.

The salad course is plated at the Fort Worth Patron Dinner for Texas Ballet Theater.

Lisa Marie McCormack, Faith Burke, Mark Gasparini, Lisa Spina celebrate the 2023-2024 season close.

David and Noel Nolet attended the May 17 Patron Dinner.

Fort Worth Texas Ballet Theater dinner Event Chair Lynsey Blair.

Left to right front row: Maegan Askew, Barbara Lott, Shelby White, Katie Soule. Back row left to right: Andrea Palmer, Tiffany Wolfe, Helen Tannehill, Brittany Christian, Amy Singleterry, Sara Fender.

As the Texas Ballet Theater’s 2023-2024 season came to a close, the heralded company welcomed its most loyal Fort Worth patrons to an enchanting Beauty and the Beast-inspired dinner before the city’s opening performance of the fairytale ballet on May 17.

Event Chair Lynsey Blair along with her team of 18 hostesses unfolded a French-themed dinner ― an ode to the French origins of the Beauty and the Beast ― in celebration of the rousing season of Texas Ballet Theater (TBT).

McDavid Studio in downtown Fort Worth was transformed into a French chateau, filled with “velvets and luxurious jewel tones filled the room, accented by gold lighting and twinkling five-foot candelabras adorned in stunning florals, courtesy of Central Market Fort Worth,” according to event chair Lynsey Blair.

The four-course dinner was presented by City Kitchen, beginning with rosemary focaccia and Gruyere cheese fondue and ending with white chocolate and raspberry petit fours decorated with rose petals by Wonderful Kakes. The rest of the menu included a bibb and butter lettuce salad and a main course of seared chicken breast in Bearnaise sauce.

Kevin Connelly, Christian Schroder, Tom Bessant, Julie Butner, Karen Schroder, Cheryl McDonald, Lise Bessant, James Meintjes, Greg Butner — Left to right: Kevin Connelly, Christian Schroder, Tom Bessant, Julie Butner, Karen Schroder. Back row: Cheryl McDonald, Lise Bessant, James Meintjes, Greg Butner.

New Artistic Director Takes A Bow

As his first year serving as Artistic Director drew to a close, Tim O’Keefe relished his elevated role with one of the oldest ballet companies in Texas, which he joined in 2002. O’Keefe assumed the position after Ben Stevenson transitioned to Artistic Director Laureate in 2023.

“After dinner, guests were privately escorted underground to Bass Hall for Fort Worth’s opening night performance of Beauty and the Beast,” Blair says. “Principal Dancers Alexander Kotelenets and Paige Nyman danced the titular roles, amazing the audience with their grace and precision. Their flowing dance patterns communicated the true moral of Beauty and the Beast: love doesn’t have to be perfect — it just needs to be true.”

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Patrons and guests received a preview of the upcoming 2024-2025 season, “which most notably includes a new staging of Giselle from O’Keefe next spring.”

Texas Ballet Theater, which performs at both Bass Hall in Fort Worth and AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas, has seating packages for next season currently on sale.