8. 10. 2013
The Ball that had it All - a First for the Philharmonic
Big names hit the dance floor, and Dan Nekonečný makes a splash!
It's a long time since Zlín has seen a smart ball like this - in fact there's probably never been anything better. The revellers were effusive in their praise of the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic and Baltaci, whose ball attracted hundreds to the Congress Centre in Zlín on Saturday to delight in the music-making of the Philharmonic and the Felix Slováček Big Band.
"These are just the kind of events we need in Zlín," Mayor Miroslav Adámek told the Zlínský Deník. "We've never had a top-notch event quite like this before. As a rule, I'm not one for going to the ball, but there's no way I was going to miss the Philharmonic tonight. I think this could be the start of something big."
The Mayor, an official sponsor of the event, took to the dance floor several times. "I made myself available," he chuckled.
Among the guests were a number of the region's cultural, business and political figures including the Zlín Theatre actor Radovan Král and Barum Continental Managing Director Libor Láznička, who also presented one of the raffle prizes, where the top prize was a holiday by air to Istanbul.
Now go to a ball, and you'll expect smart dress, social graces, and a full dance floor with top-flight musicians. What you probably won't expect is the phenomenon that is Dan Nekonečný, who hit the stage with his exotic spectacle of dance and light, at once transporting us all to the streets of Rio de Janeiro.
The public were no less enthusiastic in their appreciation of the other performances by the Prague Chamber Ballet, the Latin American sequences danced by the Fortuna Dance School, and the breathtaking singing of Petra Alvarez-Šimková and Rafael Alvarez.
"The ball went off really well," said Baltaci's Lukáš Žaludek. "It was the first of its kind, and we attracted a lot of people. It wasn't a complete sell-out, but we're happy."
A lot of people indeed. Even with the cheapest tickets at Kč 750, an empty seat at any of the tables was hard to find.
Marek Houser, Zlínský Deník
