by contributor Donna Shor
Photo credit: Jati Lindsay
At last weekend’s “After Dark at the ARC” gala, variety ruled in the program and the dinner menu that charmed 500 enthusiastic supporters of The ARC-Building Bridges Across the River.
This youths’ cultural center is a best kept secret to many Washingtonians because it is on the other side of the water in Anacostia, but is quickly becoming a popular venue. The name ARC is from the formal title Town Hall Athletic, Recreation.
The evening opened with The Washington Ballet @The ARC Youth Ensemble. The ten young ballerinas danced The Garland Waltz from Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty with charm and grace.
Next, inspired by the U.S. State Department’s Art in Embassies program Artist Exchange Celebration, Soundsuit presenters from the Corcoran ArtReach and the Washington Ballet @ THE ARC carried out their roles. Soundsuits are colorful, fantastically sculpted costumes of unusual found materials; heavy and light, that rustled together when the children walked, creating a “symphony of sound.”
The Washington Ballet’s Andile Ndlovu danced a spirited solo, Vasily Vainonen’s Flames of Paris, with leaps that drew applause. Henry Pinckney of the Levine Music School, one of the many educational groups housed at the ARC, sang Lerner and Lowe’s The Street WhereYou Live from My Fair Lady. Pinckney, an accomplished musician, 38 years old and a Ward 7 resident, recently performed in London, and studies at the Levine school at the ARC.
Council Member Jack Evans and Mayor Vincent Gray
Dancers from the Taratibu Youth Association sang and danced the emotional Crying For Freedom from the Broadway musical SERAFINA in a wildly rhythmic performance that not only lifted the audience out of their chairs, but led them down the aisles to the dining room.
Jack Davies and Kay Kendall Davies
Dinner offered crab and spinach ravioli with creamy saffron corn and mussel jus, followed by an excellent halibut filet heightened with grape verjus, that pressing of unripe grapes that yields an acidic dash more subtle than lemon or vinegar.
Accompanying that was sea bean salad, farro grains with roasted garlic and parsley. The “sea beans” were an unexpected culinary treat: seeds of tropical trees carried long distances by the ocean. Many of the more conventional vegetables were from the ARC’s own organic community garden.
Vince Gray greets Bob Bennett
Gala Chair Michelle Freeman and the Diplomatic Chair, His Excellency Michael Moussa-Adamo, The ambassador of the Republic of The Congo, both addressed the audience, emphasizing the extraordinary assemblage of youth-aimed cultural groups that teach and inspire children here.
His Excellency Michael Moussa-Adamo, The Ambassador of The Republic of the Congo (second right)
Founder and Presenting Sponsors of the evening were Chris Smith and his wife Lisa. It was Smith’s vision and development that raised the funds to build the state-of-the-art 16-acre grounds seating the 110,000 square foot of buildings that house everything from town meetings, to art, dance and music classes, to pediatric and dental care for children.
Washington Ballet Artistic Director (L) Septime Webre
Guests left with gift bags, and packets of Astro donuts for the road, bacon-flavored, PB & J flavored and passion-flower scented.
