Ballet Florida upped the tempo for this year’s annual gala: “An Evening of Jazz in New Orleans,” held at the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum in Palm Beach. The energy level was sky high as Pat Hackett’s Dixieland and the Marcia Mitchell Band got the crowd out of their seats and onto the dance floor. Tables draped in black velvet and topped with centerpieces of full-blooming red roses made guests feel as if they were dining in the French Quarter. Colorful Mardi Gras masks later doubled as bidder paddles during the Scholarship Fund auction; proceeds benefited Ballet Florida’s Dance Outreach program, which provides dance-class tuition for deserving children. The evening raised a rewarding $175,000, but the biggest news came later on, when Ballet Florida Board Prez David Veselsky Jr. announced that a $500,000 grant had been pledged by the evening’s honorees, Season Grand Benefactors Cil and Max Draime!

Among the more than 225 ballet boosters: Gala Chair and Evening Grand Benefactor Jacqueline Togut, Gala Co-chair Ellen Levy, Ballet Florida founder/Artistic Director Marie Hale, Leigh Larmoyeux, Sandy and Robert Krakoff, Suzanne and Michael Holmes, Jeff and Holly Lewis, Susan and Dom Telesco, Fran Luckoff, Barbara Wainscott, Laura Streit, Diane McLaughlin, Cheryl Gowdy, Tracy Antonopoulos, Gail Worth, Ron and Paulette Koch, Jane Manus, and Rene von Richthofen. A well-choreographed evening — on point!