Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014: 20 beautiful photos of dancers and dance-lovers in their element

by Randi Bergman June 13, 2014

See the Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014 photos »

On any other night, principal dancer Guillaume Côté’s dance moves would be mad hot. Given that the National Ballet of Canada already bestows that superlative on its annual gala, the connection was pretty clear. On Wednesday night, Toronto’s socials, patrons and dance lovers filled the glass-cased Four Seasons Centre for Mad Hot Ballet, this year entitled “Spellbound.” Beginning, fittingly, with a gala performance of several spellbinding numbers, the night’s repertoire featured four pieces choreographed by Côté. The standout among them was surely his solo “Body of Work,” during which he modernized Beethoven’s “Symphony 7 –II, Allegretto” with a series of undulating movements. Another had Leonard Cohen quirk-ified with three caryatid-meets-cabaret style dancers (Dylan Tedaldi, Kathryn Hosier and Felix Paquet) moving sprightly to “Tonight Will Be Fine” and “Dance Me To the End of Love.”

After the performance, guests in gowns (and some in tutus) spilled out into the foyer for cocktails, canapés and the second annual best-dressed award announced by FASHION editor-in-chief Bernadette Morra. Partygoer Lillian To took top honours for her ballet-inspired lashes which spelled out “mad hot.” Meanwhile, Morra herself was dressed in a custom Lucia Matis dress which featured the event’s creative (principal dancer Xiao Nan Yu mid-pose in the King Edward Hotel’s Crystal Ballroom.

Photography by Kayla Rocca

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Principal Dancers McGee Maddox, Guillaume Côté, Heather Ogden, Xiao Nan Yu, Greta Hodgkinson, Barry Hughson (Executive Director), Principal Dancers Jillian Vanstone, Aleksandar Antonijevic, Sonia Rodriguez and Piotr Stanczyk

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Gabe Gonda and Victoria Webster

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Meghan Markle

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Vanessa and Mark Mulroney

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Tracey Kelly and Emily Ames

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Jane Hanrahan

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Second Soloist Christopher Stalzer and Corps de Ballet member Giorgio Galli

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Principal Dancers Greta Hodgkinson and Guillaume Côté

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Catherine Nugent

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Kevin and Linda O’Leary

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Shannon Lee, Alyssa Dority, Bernadette Morra, Shoshanah Kuper and Lillian To

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

First Soloist Patrick Lavoie and Corps de Ballet member Andreea Olteanu

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Amira Soliman

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Jay Smith and Karen Kain

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Second Soloist Tiffany Mosher

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Sunny Fong with Principal Dancers Xiao Nan Yu and Jillian Vanstone in Vawk

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Calvin Lei and Jennifer Zimmerman

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Lynda Dawson and Priya Shah

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Grant Heaps

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Mad Hot Ballet Gala 2014

Principal Dancer Sonia Rodriguez

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