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Holmes later told Vogue<\/em> how early exposure to dance helped shape her path in the performing arts. \u201cI\u2019m from a very sports driven family, but I\u2019m the baby, and my mom recognized that I was different and put me in dance class,\u201d Holmes said, noting it influenced her desire to support fellow performers. \u201cI feel like all art forms are interconnected. So much of performance is in your body, and dancers have that naturally. I learn a lot from ballet; where even a little expression of the arm can tell a whole story.\u201d<\/p>\n As guests enjoyed a dinner of Chilean sea bass and mini dessert bites including Cipriani chocolate cake squares, they were also treated to a taste of Jaffe\u2019s Don Quixote.<\/em> One of the most beloved full-length ballets in the classical canon, its signature choreography\u2014by Marius Petipa to a score by Ludwig Minkus\u2014has remained largely intact for more than 150 years since its original production at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.<\/p>\n Don Quixote<\/em> eventually entered the ABT repertoire with Mikhail Baryshnikov\u2019s production in 1978, followed by subsequent versions staged by Vladimir Vasiliev in 1991 and Kevin McKenzie in 1995. Loosely based on Miguel de Cervantes\u2019 Spanish novel of the same name, the ballet follows the adventures of a delusional knight-errant, though its true protagonist is the spirited village girl Kitri, who defies her father\u2019s wishes to marry a nobleman in favor of her barber beau.<\/p>\n Jaffe, a former ABT principal dancer who performed Kitri in all three previous company productions, approaches the work with a dancer\u2019s unique perspective. \u201cI just wanted to give it a haircut,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s harder now for people to stay attentive. I cut some of the mime and big group dances\u2014I feel like everyone is waiting to see the final 32 fouett\u00e9s anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n For Wednesday evening\u2019s presentation, she went further still, condensing the three acts to just 38 minutes, with a different cast of Kitris and Basilios assigned to each. \u201cIt\u2019s the Reader\u2019s Digest<\/em> version,\u201d Jaffe said. \u201cI realized you don\u2019t even need the Taverna scene as long as you have Don Q to ask the father to let them marry,\u201d she said, referring to a comedic sequence involving a faked death plot used to trick Kitri\u2019s father into approving the engagement. David LaMarche, an ABT conductor, helped shape the musical cuts.<\/p>\n Still visibly animated by the evening\u2019s high-energy spectacle, Holmes reflected on the demands of dancing en pointe. \u201cI just really admire dancers. Ballet is so hard and their stamina is amazing\u2014like those fouett\u00e9s that go on and on,\u201d she praised.<\/p>\n Later in the evening, company members and dance-lovers alike carried that same energy onto the dance floor\u2014minus the pointe shoes\u2014for an after-party led by DJ Runna.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n