February in Cleveland is usually dreary, gray, and cold. But the Cleveland Ballet brought magic to the mundane with its Frosted Winter Night, and a little help from some West Coast twigs.
“I love winter,” said Tracy Etling, parent of a Cleveland Ballet student and volunteer designer for the company’s past five galas. Her deft touch this year, with cotton, sparkle, ice blue lighting and Manzanita branches from California, transformed the Tudor Arms hotel into a fantasy banquet hall fit for Queen Elsa. “Simple but elegant,” she noted.
The sit-down dinner for 300 capped an equally enchanting performance by the resurrected dance company. In the intimate setting of the mezzanine ballroom, the troupe performed excerpts from the piece “Provocativo,” choreographed by artistic director Gladisa Guadelupe.
The live auction, which raised more than $20,000 for Cleveland Ballet operations, offered a respite from Northeastern Ohio winters with a seven-day sojourn in a Tuscan villa, or to the West Coast for a Napa Valley epicurean adventure. Elsa fans could bid on a five-day stay at Disney’s Saratoga Springs resort. And those truly enthralled by frosty nights could take a journey to Irish sites based on the drama “Game of Thrones.” STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY PEGGY TURBETT

Kim Lansdowne, Pat Pogue (honorary chair), Gladisa Guadalupe (Cleveland Ballet artistic director), Michael Krasnyansky (president), Dennis Lansdowne (board member) and Richard Pogue (board chair).

Richard Pogue, chairman of the board of the Cleveland Ballet, is honored.

Cleveland Ballet artists Luciano Perotto, left, Rainer Diaz and Elena Cvetkovich at dinner following their performance.

Cynthia Graham (ballet master), Peter Sampson, and Karen and Ken Conley (event chairs)

Members of the Cleveland Ballet perform an excerpt from the piece “Provocativo.”
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