Both corporate and individual philanthropists turned out in force for Candlelight 35, and it turned into a supercharged evening filled with dancing, dancing and more dancing.
Thanks to the legendary Diana Ross, who performed her one-woman tour-de-force concert act, including four glittering costume changes and a retrospective musical journey encompassing her phenomenal nearly 50-year career in the forefront of the American musical scene, the crowd went wild.
From the moment the musical introduction began until the final encore note was sung, the black-tie crowd danced with the spirit of teenagers as Ross sang such Motown hits as “Baby Love” and “Stop in the Name of Love.”
Perhaps it was just her act, but Ross seemed to be loving it as much as the crowd, talking with guests who had come up right against her stage, dancing. Ross blew kisses to the audience in the middle of routines, and in the end invited gentlemen up on stage to dance with her as she performed the appropriate finale “I Will Survive.”
Now for a personal note. As the social observer I try to maintain a policy of no dancing with the crowd. I established this rule many years ago after giving in to a very attractive married woman who repeatedly asked me to dance with her at a party because her husband refused to dance. I gave in, feeling it was rude to turn her down after six proposals. In the middle of the dance there was a hand yanking on the back of my tuxedo jacket pulling me away while another other hand was ready to pull a punch as the man yelled, “Get your hands off of my wife.” I try to remember that experience when asked to dance at social functions.
