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On Saturday night, choreographer Benjamin Millepied premiered his new L.A. Dance Project at Walt Disney Concert Hall. His wife Natalie Portman also had something to debut: new honey-blonde hair.
The actress stepped out in a wedding-cake-like Dior Couture dress (“I love that it has pockets,” she said) and Van Cleef & Arpels jewels. She told THR that she had gone blonde for work but wouldn’t discuss what role. “My mom says I’m like a different person,” said Portman. L.A. colorist Tracey Cunningham was in charge of the transformation. “I did it just a couple of days ago,” said Portman.
Before a crowd that included Dita von Teese, Chris Evans, philanthropist Wallis Annenberg and Robert Pattinson (drinking Coronas and using an electronic cigarette), Millepied’s L.A. Dance Project company performed three pieces, including a new piece by Millepied (with costumes by Rodarte) and a dark, shadowy work by the late legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham that had not been performed in 50 years. Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the designers of Rodarte who also did Portman’s ballerina costumes for Black Swan (the movie in which the actress and Millepied met) created the costumes for Millepied’s piece, black bodysuits with a single vertical stripe extending from the torso down the leg which accentuated the dancers’ line, along with a short horizontal strip. The designers tweeted that they were at the rehearsals on Friday but were out of town Saturday and unable to attend the performance.
Portman and Millepied, plus von Teese, Pattinson and around 120 other guests, attended a pre-performance dinner at Disney Concert Hall sponsored by Van Cleef & Arpels and then all hung out for the after-party in an event area off the main lobby. Pattinson — who is friends with Portman and Millepied and is said to live near them in Los Angeles — told THR that he loved the performances but can’t see himself ever dancing in a film: “I was inspired but I know my limitations.” If he’d had to dance for a role, “I wouldn’t have gotten it.”
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