By Nancy Ross Ryan

Art comes in many forms: on a stage, on a plate and in a bottle. On October 11, legendary modern dance choreographer and dancer Mark Morris sat down with 40 other guests (each of whom purchased $2,500 tickets for his opening night performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art) to dine on the cuisine of Chef Paul Kahan of Blackbird and to drink Champagnes with Caroline Krug, a sixth-generation member of the House of Krug. The event, an MCA Women's Board benefit that raised almost $50,000 for MCA's performance program, was also a "Krug Kollaboration," the 160-year-old Champagne house's initiative to support and sponsor the arts.

Chef Kahan (who described himself that evening as "Just a stressed-out guy who likes to cook") was charged with creating a menu to match all four champagnes to be served that night.

"Is he really going to drink Champagne and then dance tomorrow night?" whispered a guest watching in fascination as Mark Morris lifted a glass of Krug Grande Cuvee to his lips and took his first bite of Kahan's foie gras with pear chip and micro sprouts on brioche toast. "Absolutely," I replied. What's a glass of Champagne to Morris, who had mastered Spanish and Russian dance and ballet by the age of 13, joined a Seattle-based Balkan folk dance troupe and danced six nights a week while attending high school?

Bob Fitzpatrick, director of the MCA, who has known Morris for years, confirmed that nothing came between Morris and dance. And the following night, onstage at MCA as Morris and his company of dancers and musicians mesmerized the audience with his newest work, "Sang Froid," one couldn't help but wonder if the -- not one but four -- Champagnes, the foie gras, the caviar-topped scallops, the roasted sable fish with white truffles, the suckling lamb, the Camembert apple tart, and the pumpkin cake with sage ice cream, may have kindled not only Morris' joie de vivre but his dance as well.