Madonna Parties With Fans at the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project

Last night we headed down to Roseland Ballroom to attend the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project where Madonna was set to pick a dancer to join her upcoming tour. While we waited outside we were told the  event was being filmed for a Madonna documentary and Jonas Akerlund we have now learned is involved.

To start the night we situated ourselves up in the VIP era and enjoyed some interesting Smirnoff cocktails (I had one that was whipped cream flavored vodka, grapefruit juice topped with a dollop of whipped cream – sounds weird but tasted great!) No sooner were we excited to learn that Madonna was up on the Balcony with us (although in her own ultra VIP area) did we get the memo that she had left the area and had headed down to the stage.

Whilst getting some drinks we heard a huge uproar from down below, The Queen had made her entrance!  This was our queue to depart, it must have been quite a sight to see us bolting down the stairs back to the general admission main floor and right into the action! By the time we got to the floor, M had situated herself on some lush white couches in with about 30 people, amongst them were choreographers Shay Norman and Rich & Tone, her daughter Lola, and boyfriend Brahim.

The competition then started, finalists from 11 countries took the stage to compete for the coveted spot, they were all amazing contestants but most people’s eyes barely left Madonna!  We had a blast watching her sip champagne (no vodka for her then!) chat with the choreographers and make some very interesting faces. All too quickly the last contestant had danced and before we knew it she was being called to the stage to pick the winner, she grabbed her coat and headed over to make her selection.

Then the real party started! They pumped up the music and Madonna and her friends began to tear up the dancefloor in their area, busting out insane moves, by this time we were going wild on the dancefloor hoping that she would come forward and bust a move or two. When Music began to play we thought it was surely the time, I hoped to see some of those trademark Music squats but alas it was not to be, we did however get a rather epic fist pump from Lola!

Later in the night Madonna walked across the stage and up into the DJ booth where Martin Solveig was pumping out the tunes. The whole crowd ran over and watched in awe as she began to dance furiously along to songs like Hung Up, Empire State of Mind, and Hello. She waved happily at the crowd below and even chanted  ”L-U-V, You Wanna?” from Give Me All Your Love much to our delight! It was the perfect end to a fantastic evening!

Thanks to Smirnoff and a great team that helped us give away tickets to 35 lucky people who joined us at the event!

Watch a selection of the clips from the evening in the playlist below and stay tuned to Hard Candy for more footage as we get it!