Behind the Curtain at ABT

By, Christina Bandini, Special Events Intern 

I am so thrilled and honored to have worked this Spring and Summer as an American Ballet Theatre intern in the Special Events Department during ABT’s 2012 MET season!  As a classical ballet dancer for ten years working at ABT has been a dream come true!   Working in Special Events not only did I spend my days at the Studio offices but our assignments took us to Lincoln Center’s Metropolitan Opera house for ABT’s Opening Night Performance and Spring Gala, invitation-only ABT Membership afternoon Dress Rehearsals, and the ABT American Girl Swan Lake event.   For years I have walked the steps at Lincoln Center entering the Metropolitan Opera House and watched my favorite ABT Principal dancers on the stage. Now in the ABT Studios I caught glimpses of these professionals rehearsing such ballets of Le Corsaire and Firebird.

At the start of my internship, in April, ABT was in the midst of preparing for the 2012 Spring Gala.  As a special events intern I saw firsthand what went into preparing for such an event.   On my first day, the MET Season opening Gala was a month away.  Hundreds of invitations were assembled, event biographies of the attendees were written, and tickets mailed.   On the day of the Gala our day started at 10:00 a.m. – the intern team sat in a circle on the floor inside the Gala dinner tent organizing place cards for the dinner tables.   Once finished, we set the 100 tables with place cards, then moved on towards organizing the Gala party favor gift which was a pyramid of cupcakes from Sprinkles.  Once donned in our Gala attire for the evening we took our places in the theatre as runners attaining patron’s tickets from the box office.  After catching a brief glimpse of the performance from the Belmont Room of the theatre we were off to our next station, outfitted with I-pads for the check-in point at the red carpet.  Just about midnight the event came to a close and we all leave the Gala, walking down the outside steps of Lincoln Center, leaving with the feeling of a job well done.

Christina Bandini, Special Events Intern, in front of the Met