It's always something.

Last week I missed the LIC knitting group because of the opera. And last night I missed it because I was invited to a benefit dinner last minute.

My husband, myself and a few kayaking friends went to the chashama benefit dinner at Un Duex Trois, a french restaurant in the theater district. chashama is a not for profit organization that provides space for free or low cost for visual artists, dancers and performance artists. It a great organization and well worth supporting.

There was a lot of fun performance artist at the event itself. Outside there were about a dozen dancers who performed everything from a Broadway type set to breakdancing. Once inside you are greeted by a woman lying on the floor by the coat check dressed as a mermaid. Her costume made entirely of newspapers.

The restaurant has 1890's Parisian decor, with gold trimmed mirrors and tromp le oil painted ceilings. In the bar area were people passing out trays of white cosmos, wine and hors d'oeuvres. Mingling in the crowd were very scantily clad woman wearing colorful g-stings, sparkly pastis and large feathered head dresses. My group of friends headed for our table and chatted.There were also performers in Matthew Barney style make-up and costumes.

As we ate, different performers visited the tables. One scary monster type gave each of us a tiny ceramic eyeball. Good food and chocolate mousse for dessert. There was a minimal amount of speeches and fun was had by all.