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Ballet prepares to host a gala fundraiser
By Mary Ann Cook
VENETIAN BOUND: A Venetian palace and Venetian canals will be the backdrop for the Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley's gala on March 24, in the ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose. This main fundraiser for the year will celebrate the ballet company's rebirth with dinner, dancing, and live and silent auctions.
Artistic director Dennis Nahat and dancers, after dining with attendees, will provide surprise entertainment. Dress is black-tie preferred, with masks for the mischievous. Festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $250 per person. For reservations, call 408.739.0085, or email BalletSJSVGala@aol.com.
The chairwoman of the event is Los Gatan Kathy Tuttle. Tuttle got involved in the Ballet Council early on, when she saw Nahat's name in a story about a joint ballet venture between Cleveland and San Jose. She also sat next to a Dennis Nahat in the Grosse Pointe High School orchestra in Michigan.
So she checked with SJ Ballet founder Karen Loewenstern, to see if this was the same Dennis N., and she's been active ever since. Tuttle chaired the 1997 Blue Suede Shoes Ballet Gala, and developed the new member program. In addition, she designs and buys clothing for the boutique that operates in the ballet lobby.
Tuttle is no stranger to large chores: she chaired the 100th birthday celebration of the town of Los Gatos in 1987, and coordinated many artistic events at Old Town. She's been an art docent with the San Jose Museum of Art and a volunteer for Junior League and Grand View League. Her husband is Mick and they have two daughters, Shawn and Erin.
Items to be auctioned off at the gala include a week's cruise on Sheila and Bob Swanson's yacht for three couples; four tickets to the Ryder Cup tournament at the Belfry in Birmingham, England; dinner for 10 in a private home prepared by chef Emile Mooser; and two business-class international airline tickets donated by Casto Travel.
Last year the Ballet Council netted $160,000, with the majority of that money coming from the gala.
LONGEST MARRIED?: Here's news of a couple who may be the longest married in Los Gatos. Louise and Russ Wintle can lay claim to 74 years of co-joining. What's their longevity secret? "I have no idea," admits Russ. They met in a candy store in Schenectady, N.Y., where she was working and he was a steady customer.
He was 20 and she was 17, and they married after a year. When they moved to this area, they lived in a small trailer in a San Jose trailer park with their four children for five years. Until recently, both helped serve lunch at the Live Oak Nutrition Center.
The minister at Faith Lutheran Church, Jerry Guthrie, wrote a poem for them during a February service and gifted them with it, according to our informant, Lolo Walker.
BOWL-A-THON: The Bowl-a-thon to help bring a dozen Russian orphans to the South Bay this summer--with the hope of their eventual adoption--has raised $9,400, so far. The organizer, Andrea Rogerson, who hosted a youngster last summer, said this should be enough to take care of expenses.
About the bowl-a-thon, a new experience for her, she says: "Everybody was having such a good time, whooping and screaming." She said she had been on the phone for nine weeks in preparation. Her family was heartbroken when they couldn't adopt their Russian guest last summer.
The Rogersons are Brits, here on a visitor visa, and the restrictions and red tape in that situation proved overwhelming. Now, Rogerson is concentrating on seeing that others do get adopted.
DIRECTOR: Los Gatan Craig Bohmler is musical director for The Three Musketeers, which plays March 9-25, at the Center for Performing Arts, its American premiere. The musical was performed as a workshop last summer in San Jose, in front of invited audiences.
Their feedback was given to the creative team, so local theatergoers helped shape this production of the swashbuckling tale. George Stiles is composer; Paul Leigh, lyricist, and the book is by Peter Raby. Dianna Shuster directs.
Bohmler's Enter the Guardsman is playing in Ashland, Ore., this season, and was the S.J. Rep's holiday offering, as well.
ANTIQUE FUNDRAISER: The Assistance League brought in more than $6,700 for their recent Antique Show and Tell appraisal event. The money will go to Saratoga and Los Gatos senior centers, plus clothes for needy children. Saratogan Mary Swentzel, vice president of the League, was the one in charge.
DAFFODIL DAYS: There's still time to get orders in for Daffodil Days on March 26-28, since the deadline is March 2. Daffodil Days benefits the American Cancer Society; the hotline is 408.879.1032. Bouquets of 10 are $10 each and special arrangements range from $55 to $110.
The Gift of Hope offers daffodils in a vase delivered anonymously to a cancer patient in $15, $25, $50 and $100 versions.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
