Fashion and Dance Collide

Like many dance companies in New York, Stephen Petronio’s has regularly had the support of the fashion industry. The choreographer has collaborated with designers like Benjamin Cho, Rachel Roy, Adam Kimmel, Tara Subkoff’s Imitation of Christ and even the late Leigh Bowery.

Jewelry designer Karen Erickson of Erickson Beamon traced her connection to Mr. Petronio’s company at Wednesday’s benefit for the organization, which began with a performance at the Joyce Theater and moved to a buffet supper at the Dream Hotel.

Ms. Erickson recalled a time when she and her business partner Jean-Marc Flack went to Paris for fashion week "and we decided to be cultural."

"We were totally exhausted," Ms. Erickson said.

Mr. Flack bought the pair (along with their fit model at the time) tickets to see a performance of Mr. Petronio’s at the Pompidou.

It wasn’t completely clear how these dots connected based on their explanation, but the famous milliner Stephen Jones, who had been staying in Mr. Flack’s apartment back in New York, also somehow knew Mr. Petronio. One thing led to another. Mr. Flack ended up marrying Mr. Petronio and Ms. Erickson became a longtime patron of the company.

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Wednesday’s party was in support of Mr. Petronio’s "Bloodlines" project, which involves performances not only of his own work but of others, too. This year’s includes Trisha Brown’s 1979 piece "Glacial Decoy," featuring sets, costumes and visuals by Robert Rauschenberg. It also features Mr. Petronio’s response, from 1990, to the AIDS crisis called "MiddleSexGorge."

One of the more memorable costumes in "MiddleSexGorge" is a corseted pair of pants emblazoned with flowers worn by two men in the company.

"They’re exactly the same costumes we used then," said Mr. Petronio. "They’re just taken in and altered."

He explained that the flower pants were a reference to Nijinsky’s "Le Spectre de la Rose."

"I safety pinned the flowers myself on the tights," Mr. Petronio remembered. "A year later, we were performing in São Paulo and the costume designer asked, ‘Do you want these sewn on?’"

The actress Rose McGowan, who recently moved to the East Village and is about to direct a music video for Yoko Ono, said she was particularly taken with the flower pants.

"Everyone should wear those," Ms. McGowan said.

Mr. Petronio said he didn't just wear them on stage to dance.

"I would wear them at nightclubs," he explained. "And I would wear them shopping. Clothes shopping."

Among the guests on Wednesday were the artist Cindy Sherman, the fashion designer Narciso Rodriguez, co-chairwomen Lisa Resling Halpern and Alison Mazzola, who brought her mother, Sylvia, who introduced her to the Trisha Brown Dance Company years before. The party honored Richard E. Feldman, the president of the SHS Foundation, and Diane Madden, the associate artistic director of the Trisha Brown Dance Company.

Though it was 250 people, dinner was relatively casual. There were dried flowers as centerpieces and supper included penne vodka, french fries (or herbed frites, as the menu read) and plenty of mozzarella cheese.

Incidentally, Mr. Petronio used the evening to celebrate his coming birthday.

"It’s my 60th birthday," Mr. Petronio said. "Tonight I’m going to eat a lot of burrata."

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