Casita Maria's Pachanga Luncheon

 

 

Jacqueline Weld Drake, the longtime chairman of the Casita Maria Center for Arts Education, hosted her annual Pachanga luncheon last Monday at her Park Avenue residence. The annual event allows the Junior (“Pachanga”) Committee to plan for the upcoming Fiesta Gala at The Plaza Hotel Tuesday October 16th. This year's Pachanga Chairs are Adriana Echavarria-Eisenhower, Anthony Souza, and Sean Souza. Guests included Fabiola Arias, Andrea Casanova,  Atencio Coromoto, Henry Lord Boulton VI, Halim Bulos, Bella Eastham, Hanson Greene, Elizabeth Jacoby, Michelle Karut, Alicia Lubowski-Jahn, Henrique Cisneros, Gabriel Rivera-Barraza, and Sabrina Wirth. 

Casita Maria's Fiesta 2018 Gala will honor Isabel Goldsmith-Patiño, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos, Mary Snow, and Carlos Souza. The Dinner Chairmen are Jacqueline Weld Drake, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, and Carlos Mota. This year's Honorary Chairs are Elizabeth Peabody, Christine Schwarzman, and Lynn Wyatt. 

The Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education offers high quality, innovative after school arts education to over 1,000 students daily in their state-of-the-art facility in the South Bronx. Casita's enriching programs produce engaged, well-rounded individuals, who go on to fulfill their dreams.

 

Photo Credit: Annie Watt Agency

The Artists Behind "Sleeping Beauty Dreams"

 

 Sleeping Beauty Dreams is a retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale.  The highly anticipated work is an artistic exploration of the untold story of Princess Aurora's 100 years of dreams, set to premiere in Miami at The Adrienne Arch Center on December 7th and 8th.  It will be very different from the fairy tale and popular The Sleeping Beauty ballet, and I'm both intrigued and excited to see the project come to life.  

The piece will star American Ballet Theatre's former principal dancers Diana Vishneva as Aurora, and Marcelo Gomes as the Prince.  It will be the first time the pair has performed together since leaving the company.

I recently attended the exclusive Sleeping Beauty Dreams presentation at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City and learned about the project.   The work is a mixture of dance, music, technology, film, and art.  The panel included Diana Vishneva (principal dancer), Tobias Gremmler (digital artist), Thijs de Vlieger (composer) Edward Clug (choreographer), Bart Hess (costume design) and Laurent Fort (light artist).  Each artist gave remarks about their part in the creative process.  

Costume designer Bart Hess said "My work is known for using materials that are not usually considered for fashion like silicon, latex, plastic, foil, and metals. Some of the costumes and installations I’ve designed in the past, employ completely not wearable materials like shaving foam or iron or like the 'slime dress' for Lady Gaga."

Digital artist Tobias Gremmler, explained the creation of 3D digital avatars that will dance alongside Vishneva and Gomes, and react to the dancers' movements in real time.  This innovative technology will make its debut on the stage inside the dance world for the first time.  I expect this will be more then another brilliant performance art lovers will be raving about.  Sleeping Beauty Dreams sounds like a surefire new experience that anyone with a beating heart should go see.  

You can get tickets to the New York’s Beacon Theater December 14th and 15th performances here:

 www.ticketmaster.com. 

 

 

Photo credit: Presley Ann for PMC and Brian Willam Waddell

Free Beauty Events August Giveaway

 

FreeBeautyEvents.com is back this month with another amazing giveaway.  For anyone not familiar with FBE, the site is a great tool for all beauty addicts.  It helps you stay up to date on the latest beauty happenings in your area and serves as an awesome way to snag killer free samples. Each month the site gives away a bundle chalk full of the industry's best must haves.
 
This month's basket includes industry favorites from Milani, KISS, Maybelline, Toppik, Dove and more!  The contest runs from now through 8/31//18, winners will be chosen on 9/10/18 and notified by 9/15/18.  Entering is simple!  Visit FreeBeautyEvents on Facebook (don't forget to like them!) or enter directly on their website.

Besides the monthly giveaways, the site also offers great beauty advice and product reviews on their blog.  Like any of the products you read about?  Keep your eyes open for your chance to stock up!  Easy as 1-2-3, just enter your zip code into the site's search bar to find out which locations in your area might be handing out samples.  It's a helpful way to keep up to date with the beauty events happening in your town.  

  

Get more FBE info here

Have you attended a past event listed on the site? 

My First Keratin Treatment at Keratin Lounge by LASIO

 

About three weeks ago, I got my first ever, Keratin treatment at the LASIO Keratin Lounge   in NYC.  These hot, humid, months always are always a challenge for dealing with thick, curly hair, and word on the street has been keratin treatments are a great alternative. 

Keratin treatments have been around for a minute, but LASIO's technique is unique to their salon.  A LASIO certified stylist evaluates your hair and creates a specialized "Keratin cocktail" that caters specifically to your texture.  

 

My stylist suggested a treatment that would reduce 90% of my curl and all of my frizz.  It sounded a little drastic at first, but after further discussion, she pointed out that things like sweating and using the wrong products can make it fade out sooner.  The treatment is designed to last about four months (with proper maintenance), and fade out evenly from root to tip.  Which meant, I didn't have to worry about my roots growing out funny and making time for a touch up.  So, I figured, why not go all the way?   

My stylist washed my hair first with clarifying shampoo and then again with conditioner.  After blow drying out the moisture, thus began the keratin application.  She spritzed on the mixture from root to tip, eventually drying my hair again, and running over it with a flat iron.  The flat iron sealed in the formula, completing the process.  The advertised time is 90 minutes start to finish, and I was stunned to see I actually was done in 90 minutes.  

End result?  I love it and wish I had done it sooner.  Doing my hair is soo quick and easy now, and for the first two weeks, I walked out the door au natural.  No flat iron, no hair spray, nada.  I loved the subtle body and bounce.  It was such a refreshing change not to have to worry about what I was gonna do with my hair in the humidity.  My hair is the softest, silkiest and shiniest it's ever been.  

LASIO also recently released the Keratin Protector to help prolong the treatment's life span and increase performance by 40%.  It is great for summer because it protects against salt water and chlorine damage, but you can also use it as a daily leave in treatment.  I spritz it on every morning, especially before hitting the beach and then wash it out when I get home, and my hair is holding up nicely.  The price of the treatment varies from person to person.  Mine was complimentary, courtesy of the salon, and would have run around $400.

 

Before

The Keratin application..

   

After

 

 

End result 

Joshua Beamish/ MOVETHECOMPANY Debuts "The Masque of the Red Death" at The Joyce Theatre Ballet Festival

 

 Last month, the Joyce Theatre hosted its annual Ballet Festival, which showcased performances by various dance companies, including internationally known, Joshua Beamish/ MOVETHECOMPANY.  The New York based, contemporary company made its return to the Joyce stage, this time with the world premiere of Beamish's new full length work "The Masque of the Red Death", inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe short story.  The piece explored the different color palette, moods, and social context presented in Poe's Gothic tale. 

 

The work embodied the fantasy essence that is Poe's Red Death story.  Through a mixture of spoken and recorded texts from opera signer Jessye Norman, "The Secret Lives of Color" by Kassia St. Clair, and "Chromophobia" by David Batchelor, the audience was transported into a realm of darkness.  The piece was full of award worthy theatrics.

 The costumes and lighting played heavily into the ambiance.  While dark in tone, vibrant colors also shone throughout.  The dancers created abstract shapes and images against bright blues, greens, orange and a blinding white towards the end.  Sections with the spoken text sounded muffled at times, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was intentional.  It added a distinct, underlying menacing element to the performance that fit the narrative eerily well.

 I have been moved by performances in the past, but this was different.  Watching Beamish's "The Masque of the Red Death" felt uneasy and unsettling, in a great way.  The unexpected trepidation, and anticipation of what would come next was a new and exhilarating experience. 

Photos courtesy of PR