Welcome Reception: Passionatta

Opening Night Event Brings to Life Event Pros’ Passion for their Industry

Published in December 2007
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The human carpet and its elegantly clad dancers welcomed guests to Passionatta. Dancers from New Century Dance Company moved beneath the transparent walkway as guests strolled into Mansion. The human carpet concept was created by Ruddy Sanchez.Bacardi developed a purple Passionatta as the signature drink for the event. The cocktail supported the theme colors: a palette of purple hues to convey the message of passion for life, passion for your work...purple passion!Costumed by New Century Dance Company, six performers danced sinuously, high above the crowd, with lighting by Russ Berger and Todd Small creating an alluring atmosphere throughout the room.The main room rocked with special effects and live performances by New Century Dance Company and others. Here, Luis Mejia of Ole-Ole Productions performs.DJ Power Infiniti kept the energy level up, providing guests the ultimate atmosphere for networking.Mark Baker collaborated with the lighting designer, dance company and laser designer in order to realize his vision for the performance by world-renowned synthesized harpist Victor Espinola.With use of a scrim, multimedia and exotic choreography, Mark Baker created a mesmerizing mystique for this performance in which the word Passionatta was projected onto the scrim.So Cool Events created an ice gallery entry to the main room, enticing guests with 3.5-foot-tall ice letters spelling "passion" and five pairs of ice legs pointing their toes to the truss.Artistically presented cuisine from 2Taste Catering was arranged on custom-fabricated, 6-foot-long Lucite serving trays. By having servers bear the trays above their heads, Chef John Rossetti created a solution to serving in a large, compact crowd.2Taste Catering also designed and fabricated smaller serving trays and Lucite jewel boxes in which the food became the jewels and part of the décor. Servers removed the food from the pull-out drawers.The passion for the seductively crafted Kama Sutra-inspired lounge space was created by The Design Firm’s Fé Domenech.New Century Dance Company’s Ruddy Sanchez and Alexandra Sliva created and choreographed performances that conveyed the range of human passions. “Dancing with the Stars” designer Marcia McGill of Designs to Shine designed many of the costumes.

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“Passionatta!” — it was a word and event created to elicit the passions of all the senses…and vibrant experiences designed to remind the crowd of event professionals of the passions that drive their talent.

Executive Producer Mona Meretsky, Entertainment Directors Alexandra Sliva and Ruddy Sanchez, Creative and Technical Producer Mark Baker and Chef John Rossetti developed a team that collaborated to produce the ultimate welcome experience: passionate, enticing and sensual. The entrance over the “human carpet” signaled to guests that this was not going to be your typical welcome party.

“Passionatta truly was a passion for everyone who worked to create the vision. It was an obsession for Ruddy, Alexandra, Mark and myself as we brainstormed for almost five months,” said Meretsky. “Working together with a ‘dream team’ and surrounding ourselves with over 30 truly dedicated and talented event professionals became one of the most pleasurable events in my 33 years in this industry. This team saw our vision and helped us to create an event unlike any other. All of our time and effort paid off, as our passions truly became an event known as…Passionatta!”

Executive Producer

Mona Meretsky, CSEP
COMCOR Event and Meeting Production Inc.
www.comcorevents.com

Entertainment Directors

Alexandra Sliva and Ruddy Sanchez
New Century Dance Company
www.newcenturydancecompany.com

Creative and Technical Producer

Mark Baker
Mark Baker Creative
markbaker1000@aol.com

Cuisine

John Rossetti
2Taste Catering
www.2tastecatering.com

Lighting

Ross Berger and Todd Small

A/V Director

Felix Alfonso

Video

Luis Dreams

Lasers

Eduardo Capriles

Rigging

Daniel Stover

Music

Power Infiniti

Host

Mansion
www.theopiumgroup.com

Partners

Active Production and Design Inc.
www.activeproductionanddesign.com

American Turf and Carpet LLC / Event Flooring Professionals
www.americanturfandcarpet.com

ASI Production Services Inc.
www.asiprod.com

Bacardi Mojito Cocktails
www.bacardi.com

Big Events Inc.
www.bigeventsonline.com

Bill Whidden Designs
www.billwhiddendesigns.com

Brainchild FX
www.brainchildfx.com

Café Ala Carte
www.cafealacarte.com

Christie’s Photographic Studios
www.christiesphotographic.com

Designs to Shine by Marcia McGill…the Choice of Champions
www.designstoshine.com

The Event Firm
www.theeventfirm.net

Florida Radio LLC
www.flradio.com

LaserNet
www.lasernet.com

MPS Light and Sound

Ole-Ole Productions
www.luismusic.com

Panache…A Classic Party
Rentals Company
www.linenswithpanache.com

SeeYouAtTheParty.com
seeyouattheparty.com

SLK Creative
www.slkcreative.com

So Cool Events
www.socoolevents.com

Unique Option Event
Furniture & Decor
www.unique-option.com

Victor Espinola, Harpara Music