In a few weeks, the dancers of the New York City Ballet glide up to their summer residence in Saratoga, where they’ll have farms, forests, and horse racing to distract them. But something tells me the dancers might prefer a few weeks on the French Riviera.

The dancers, you see, chose “The Glamour of Cannes” as the theme for their annual Dance with the Dancers party, which drew 630 guests and raised nearly $400,000. And if there’s a group suited for Cannes, it’s these dancers, with their toned physiques and innate style.

“It’s my job to get you in the mood, to set the scene,” one of the dance chairmen of the event, Edwaard Liang, told guests.

“The Riviera – think of big yachts, warm beaches, red carpets,” Mr. Liang said.

A few moments later, the dancer chairwoman, Carrie Lee Riggins, appeared on the balcony of the New York State Theater – or rather, her hotel in Cannes, the Carlton – dramatically gesturing in a white towel.

Then the Cannes crowd pranced in: sunbathers, photographers, movie stars, models, press agents, fops. They tapped, high-kicked, and frolicked on the promenade in a fantastic 15-minute performance, choreographed Melissa Barak.

The dancers had some help in bringing the Riviera to Manhattan. The tropical weather was certainly evocative. Also, some of the guests were French, such as Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, who just returned from Cannes.

“It’s the crazy side of France you don’t have in Paris,” she said.

The waiters looked French in neck scarves and berets. The tables, too, looked French. The designer Josh Hickey created a ritzy seaside feel with votives wrapped in white and blue tissue paper, and shells and palm fronds painted gold.

The meal, by the TriBeCa restaurant Landmarc, started French, with mini quiche lorraines. Next was white gazpacho, wood-fired skirt steak, potatoes, and stringbeans. Dessert was mini ice cream cones served in artist palettes. The wine, a Veramonte sauvignon blanc, was from Chile.

The biggest thrill of the event was not the temporary escape to Cannes, but the opportunity to hang out with the dancers. They ate, drank, smoked, and showed off designer dresses (in this case, by Chloe, the event’s sponsor) as much as the next socialite. And they looked like they were having a lot more fun, even when they were saying thank-yous and drawing the raffle winners from a straw basket.

That task fell to Ms. Riggins, Mr. Liang, and the third dancer chairman, Benjamin Millepied. One of the winners turned out to be the husband of dancer Kyle Froman, the CBS political reporter Andrew Kirtzman. Mr. Kirtzman won a weekend stay at the Delano Hotel in South Beach.

Spotted: Brad and Barbara Evans, who were celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary; the photographer Diane Tuft, who just returned from photographing Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty; Tinsley Mortimer, in a coral knee-length Nina Ricci dress, who had a nice tan after spending a week on a boat in Panama; Alexandra Kimball, blushing pink in her Oscar de la Renta dress; Charlotte Moss, who is organizing a gala for Unicef in November; Elizabeth Scokin of Nashville, who’s in town to check out Smoked, the new barbecue restaurant in the East Village backed by Tennessee Titans football player Keith Bulluck, and the non-dancer chairwomen of the event, Robin Renzi, Rita Norona Schrager, and the daughters of Danielle Steel, Vanessa and Victoria Traina.

Best dressed: Tom Gold, who went to the bank yesterday and withdrew euros to make his “Euro Trash” costume. The pants featured color printouts of a euro, not actual money. Perhaps he’ll wear the outfit again when he goes to Provence in August to perform at the home of the dance patron Anne Cox Chambers.

The 21st annual Dance with the Dancers came to a close with lots of dancing by everyone . Frederick Sanchez spun the music. By 2 a.m., guests such as Allison Sarofim and P.J. Pascual had moved the party to Bungalow 8.

As for Saratoga, the season there runs between July 5 and 23, with Christopher Wheeldon’s new ballet, “An American in Paris,” part of the gala performance scheduled for July 16. One way the dancers entertain themselves in the wilderness is their Battle of the Houses, in which they compare the amenities of their Saratoga residences.