First Lady Michelle Obama, who graced the spring season opener, is a hard act to follow. But the American Ballet Theatre at Lincoln Center had a trick up its sleeve for its annual fall gala. As guests took their seats in the newly revamped Alice Tully Hall, a no-curtains setup meant the performers stretched and warmed up in full view of the audience.

Amy Fine Collins came in from the gusty evening wearing Dennis Basso plumage. "I have wings. I can fly," she quipped. The real lifts, though, came during the company's two-hour performance, which (following an introduction from co-hosts Iman and Veronica Webb) included routines set to Scarlatti and Ravel and a very well-received contemporary number that packed the stage with more than two dozen bodies.

Principal dancer Veronika Part mesmerized the crowd with The Dying Swan; unfortunately, she couldn't be revived for the post-show dinner, depriving designer Christian Cota of a look at her in the gown he'd sent over. "I guess she didn't feel well," he sighed.

Sitting front and center were Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz and Emmy Rossum, who sang in Met choirs as a child. "I like seeing the dancers warm up. I think it might take the nerves away, just being able to see people and wiggle around before you do 32 fouettés in a row," she mused. Come again? "She goes to ballet every morning," Duritz explained. Rossum took a moment to fiddle with her date's bow tie, then elaborated: "Grand jeté, saut de chat, which is basically a grand jeté with a bent front leg—it's my workout."

— Darrell Hartman