The 27th Slovak Ball Recap

​

The 27th Slovak Ball, held on February 22, 2020, at The Royal Manor in Garfield, NJ, celebrated not only Slovak culture and community, but also the singular style of the 1980s, with a record 433 guests! Entertainment featured iconic music from the decade, while menu items and decor recalled the colorful and flamboyant style of the times. The 1980s were on display in the lobby, which featured an original PacMan arcade and boomboxes while playing Slovak 1980s musical hits, as well as in the ballroom, which showcased bright colors and lights reminiscent of an '80s dance party. It was a wonderful evening of unique entertainment, stylish decor, fabulous food and drink, and excellent company!  

​

Program

• Video: As guests took their seats in the ballroom, a video by Slovak-American film student Andrew Pulver mesmerized the audience with scenes of the Rubik's Cube, a 1980s sensation and the world's best-selling toy of all time.

• The ballroom dancers: Slovak-American Vanesa Falisova  (born in Hummene) and her partner Yusif Amsatr opened The Slovak Ball for the second year with the rumba and later performed the jive! The pair have just recently begun dancing together but have already amassed many noteworthy awards, such as placing 4th at the Open World Latin Championship in Paris, and last year competed in the US Championships and successfully reached the quarterfinals.  Vanesa immigrated to the US at the age of 2 and by age 12 she already became a US Champion.  We wish the pair continued success!

• "Dancing with the Stars": This year Vanesa, our ballroom dancer, performed a third dance to the famous song "I've Had the Time of my Life" from the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing with a guest from The Slovak Ball -- Vlado Burdelak surprised us all with his dance moves!

• Express Band: You know this popular band well as they’ve performed for the past decade at The Slovak Ball and rocked this year with 80's hits as well as our favorite folk songs. The band is led by Marek Soltis.

• Surprise performance:  This year the attendees of the Slovak Ball were surprised by the performance by the leader of the former rock band TAKTICI - Vlado Kolenič. He performed TAKTICI's biggest hits such as "Vam v Bielom Plasti", "Langose" a "10dg Tresky".  Vlado has been very active in the world of music in the USA after emigrating here in the early 1980s.  To thank him for his performance, SACC gave Vlado a commemorative clock engraved by SACC thanking him for his contributions to the world of music. 

• The Proposal: This year's Ball was filled with many happy moments including a surprise proposal of marriage by John to his girlfriend Christine.  Congratulations to the happy couple!  We wish them many happy years together!

​

Menu

Guests enjoyed a delicious variety of foods during cocktail hour, including a little taste of home with appetizer-sized bryndzové halušky served in cocktail glasses! Main courses included 80s-themed "Never Gonna Give you Up Chicken Soup," "It's Raining Manor Salad," choice of: "Sweet Chateaubriand O'Mine," "Abracadabra Chicken Saltimbocca," or "Fishin' in the Dark Majestic Salmon." For dessert, guests enjoyed "Pour Me Some Apple Strudel on Me" and "Time of My Life Slovak Cake."  Guests later enjoyed a "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" Midnight Snack which featured roast pig, pierogies, potato pancakes and Slovak halusky. Those that abstained from carbs enjoyed the premium bar along with the specialty cocktail - the 80s Fuzz!

​

Slovak Ball Raffle

Thank you to our corporate and individual sponsors for their generous donations to The Slovak Ball!  This year we had an incredible lineup of once-in-a-lifetime experiences and special prizes, including two separate drawings for a roundtrip economy ticket to Europe sponsored by LOT Airlines!  A special thank you to: First Catholic Slovak Union, First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association, Slovak Catholic Sokol, Matus Culen, Joseph and Gitka Hlavinka, Eta Jendrek, Judith Lepko and Roger Parloff for their generous support!  Last but not least, thanks to those that helped promote the Slovak Ball, namely Slovak Professionals and Slovak v Amerike!  Thank you for helping to sell out our venue yet again!

​

Photos

We are excited to share with you professional photos by Diana Cernakova and Maynard Wallace which captured the unique moments from this year’s Slovak Ball.  If you wish, you can order prints directly from their websites.

​

https://dianacernak.pixieset.com/02222020ples/

​

https://www.prog4to.com/Slovak-Ball-2020