I see that in a couple of early performances of the NYCB Nutcracker, Drossselmeier will be portrayed by a pair of extremely familiar "guest artists," Robert LaFosse and Andrei Kramerevsky. I'm not sure that "Krammy" was ever on the roster of NYCB, but he's been on the SAB faculty for years. As for LaFosse, he went from NYCB Principal to Guest Artist almost overnight, as I recall. I suppose it has to do with how the dancer is compensated, but can anyone shed some light on this comewhat myterious transformative process?

It has a lot to do with the General Contract that NYCB has with AGMA. Simplified, it says that if you're not on the company roster, and your part is not supernumerary, you are listed as a "guest artist".

Thank you, Major.