Fancy people filled the American Museum of Natural History’s ball on Wednesday night. But next to the dinosaur in the Rotunda and the whale in the Hall of Ocean Life, all of the 400 guests looked small – even celebrities such as Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld (who were co-chairmen) and Billy Joel and his new wife, Kate Lee Joel.

Music from Alex Donner and his band and the guests got the crowd to strut their stuff, twirling and dipping in full-length gowns and glistening jewels.

In turn, Christie’s auctioneer Richard Brierley ruled the room, as bids climbed by the thousands for a tour of NASA and a vacation at the Punta Cana resort in the Dominican Republic.

For Constance Spahn, amuseum trustee who served as a chairwoman of the ball (for the seventh time), the evening was about supporting the museum’s education programs. “That’s what this institution is all about. They do an extraordinary job education young people – in the public schools and also the Ph.D. students – the would-be paleontologists and archeologists.”

Though the exhibits are enthralling, she said, it’s the people that matter most: “The joy of being a trustee has been been getting to know curators, and the researchers in the museum.”

In total, a whopping $1.5 million was raised for the museum.

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Moet Champagne got a lounge of its own in the Meatpacking District -a temporary nightspot that hosted parties all week. On Wednesday night, Ashanti stopped by for a “listening party” featuring songs from her new CD and a screening of the video for the song “Only You.” Guests bellied up to a bar designed by Michael Czysz (who counts Lenny Kravitz, Cindy Crawford, and Rande Gerber as clients). The bar featured gold upholstery on the base – to echo the gold foil on the bottles of Moet, we’re told – and an ice trough on the counter – ice buckets are so passe.