Iona Fundraiser Dinner Party

I had the pleasure of attending the Iona Contemporary Dance Theatre's Fundraiser Dinner Party this past weekend (Thanks, Evil Bunny!). It was the first time for me and I didn't really know what to expect but I had a great time!

The theme for the party was Where the Wild Things Are. In addition, each table had its own theme within a theme and our table's theme was Barbarella's Boudoir of Basic Animal Instinct. Basically, the dancers in the dance company dress up in costume and interact and mingle with the guests. Guests are also welcome to dress up to either the theme of the party or their individual tables. Always one to enjoy each opportunity to its fullest, I decided to dress up. I'd say that about 1 third of the guests dressed up in costume for the party. Some people on our table dressed accordingly to the "boudoir" theme and came wearing bedroom attire. I decided to dress to the Where the Wild Things Are party theme, but took a "thinking outside of the box" approach. Honestly, my idea for my costume was thought of in about 15 minutes, 2 days before the party. Not a whole lotta thinking went into it!

So anyways, I decided to dress up as Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn from the movie Major League. I know, I'm kind of weird. As you can see, I got the Indians jersey, the cap, and even wore a glove! I didn't go so far as to buzz my hair to Charlie Sheen's style, but I did wear the black framed glasses. I guess I was the cleaned up Ricky Vaughn version from Major League II! I'm pretty sure that most people at the party didn't "get" my concept and were probably wondering "Why is that big guy dressed like a baseball player?" I even got asked "Are you an Indians fan?" more than once and one dude even asked me how I felt about so-and-so being traded away from the team. I was like..."I don't even like baseball. Sorry, dude. I have no idea who you're talking about." But I did get one acknowleding look from this one guy I made eye contact with across the room. He saw me, and gave me that nod like he was silently saying "I get ya buddy! Good job!" That made my night!

Anyways, enough about me. Let's talk about the party...

The party was held on the lawn of the Hawaii State Art Museum on Richards and Hotel Street.You know...I never even knew this place existed! But it was a very nice looking building and I even got to check out some of the displays upstairs when I went to the bathroom.

The silent auction started at 6:30pm in the building's lobby. There were some cool stuff on sale like pieces of art (ceramic pigs, elephants, King Tut headpiece, etc.), HIFF memberships, restaurant gift certificates, sunglasses, handbags, and other interesting items. I bid on a "Comprehensive Golf Performance Enhancement Evaluation" from Body Balance for Performance Hawaii, Inc. It includes a full orthopedic physical evaluation and a video golf swing analysis. With my swing, I need all the help I can get! The bid item also came with 2 bottles of premium sake. So I put in my bid ($150 for a $300 value) and went to dinner.

When all of the guests were were seated, the dancers began their show. They came out one by one, dressed up in various animal type costumes. Here's a video clip of their intro:

There was one dancer assigned to each table and this was our dancer (a sheep). She was actually pregnant and had the words "New Ewe" written on her belly:But the dancers went from table to table, doing various weird things with the guests. The dancers were not allowed to talk so all of their interaction was through physical actions. There was a squirrel lady who went around handing out walnuts and was carrying a hammer. The cat lady would go around with a bowl of milk and make people drink from it. Random dancers would come up behind you and massage your neck. Another one went around shooting a water gun at people. It was all pretty random and that's what made it interesting cuz you never knew what to expect.

A few more random pics of the ongoings...This dancer was my favorite. I think she was supposed to be a lion.Jungle Boys were around to fan the guests (it was really hot!)
There was also a cage where you could pay $20 to have the animal dancers drag someone into the cage to get "attacked" by the animals. I paid to have Evil Bunny taken to the cage but somehow I got dragged in there first! But I'm proud to say I broke the cage's cherry cuz I was the first one in there for the night.

There was also a Petting Zoo area but when I went to check it out, it was a guy in a thong sitting in a wading pool, giving ladies foot massages. I didn't stick around to watch...I always provide food pics, so here's a pic of our dinner. I think it was kampachi provided by Indigo restaurant. There was also unlimited red and white wine available.After dinner, people got up to dance.
Then I found out that I had won the golf swing analysis package I had bid on. I guess no one out bid me! Sweet!

Overall, it was a very fun and interesting night. Thanks again to Evil Bunny for the invite!