Atavistic Art: Who’s been hitting the MMJ? Photo: Aly Nicklas/justritemedia.com
Since the first Telluride AIDS Benefit (TAB) in 1994, when locals paraded down main street wearing garbage-bag gowns engineered by local designer and beneficiary Robert Presley, the quirky cowboy town has raised over $1.5 million dollars for AIDS education, prevention and research.
Now into its 18th year, TAB has evolved into a three-day event that opened last March with a silent auction at the Sheridan Opera House, featuring donated work from renowned international artists and the Children’s Hospital Immunodeficiency Program, the sole specialized health provider for children with HIV in the Rocky Mountains. The event culminated with the impassioned Gala Fashion Show at the Telluride Conference Center on Saturday evening. The event showcased everything from high-end designer dresses to avant-garde creations, local fair trade clothing, outdoor apparel, sexy lingerie, a vintage collection and over-the-top found object fashion.
The audience was left feeling as if it had just witnessed a flash mob rather than a fashion show, having been taken along a veritable thrill-ride as the fast-paced, emotionally charged music escorted 40 models running, jumping, cartwheeling, flipping and dancing down the narrow runway in highly choreographed routines.
“We pushed our models to act outside of their everyday lives and do things you usually don’t see on a runway,” said Director Katy Parnello, an actress, choreographer and fashion designer from Brooklyn. “I wanted to bring emotion to the show, to take the audience on a journey.”
This year’s theme “Force” was inspired by the active, outdoorsy lifestyle of Telluride and “the way people naturally move,” said Choreographer Amanda Sturtevant. “At times people move fast, sharp and forceful, and at other times people move slowly, soft, or no movement at all.”
The models were all volunteers, between the ages of 18 and 70, and ranged from short and muscular to tall and delicate. They came from all walks of life: teachers, waitresses, ski instructors, real estate agents, students and parents. Only a handful were trained dancers—impressive if you witnessed the evocative blend of modern and classical dance with dynamic acrobatic lifts and throws, executed in short, brilliant routines.
“The locals make it magic and every year the various participants find ways to make the event their own,” said TAB founder Kandee Degraw.
The show reached a crescendo as a dozen models crept onto the stage wearing sleek Franklin & Gower blazers and freaky animal masks in a Donnie Darko-like nightmare. A gentleman from the UNAIDS Council remarked, “I have never been to an AIDS benefit where everyone is on their feet screaming and cheering.”
This year’s event set a record raising over $200,000 that will be doled out to five beneficiaries from Colorado to Africa. Parnello reflected afterward: “Each year to see the Telluride community come together, volunteer their time and donate so much money to help people they’ve never met is a phenomenal thing to be a part of and experience.”
For more information, visit aidsbenefit.org.
