The restoration of The Red Shoes came about when Schoonmaker tried to buy Scorsese a print of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp for his 60th birthday. She was alarmed to discover the printing negative was worn out, and that there wasn't enough money to restore it. Much of the Powell and Pressburger legacy was, and still is, in a similar condition. So she and Scorsese set about raising the cash to fund the restoration. "It's been over two years now of checking test prints and determining how the picture should be restored," says Scorsese. "In restoration circles, very often three-strip Technicolor film can only reach a certain technical level. The colours start to become yellow and you get fringing - where the strips don't quite line up. But the techniques we used here are top of the line. So it looks better than new. It's exactly like what the film-makers wanted at the time, but they couldn't achieve it back then."

Alberta Ballet filled the gaping hole left by the Ballet British Columbia's tour cancellation with a gutsy world premiere of Bolero and a lusty revival of Carmen in a solid Spanish-themed program Tuesday that didn't have obvious signs of being pulled together from out of the fire.

The audience entered an auditorium void of backdrops and curtains with the stage's pulleys and ropes fully exposed and the dancers meandering about in sweatsuits, steeped in their own individualistic pre-performance ritual, warming up their body parts, taking no notice of the crowd filing in before them.

While touting SPAC’s relatively strong fiscal condition, officials Wednesday expressed concerns about the fate of New York City Ballet and Philadelphia Orchestra, both of which continue to suffer major attendance and financial losses.

"It’s critical that we go to these performances and get our friends to go," Treasurer Abe Lackman told the roughly 80 people gathered at SPAC’s annual membership meeting. "There is a trend here that is extremely worrisome."

The title “Quasi Una Fantasia” connects both to Adorno’s writings on music and to the title Beethoven gave his “Moonlight” Piano Sonata No. 14. Mr. Gorecki’s darkly atmospheric Opus 78 — an orchestral version of his Opus 62 quartet — seldom has dance-friendly rhythms, but this suits Mr. Millepied better than either the Chopin or Brahms piano music he used as accompaniments for his “Danses Concertantes” at the Joyce Theater in December. Mark Stanley’s somber lighting starts with a glow on the horizon, and then turns the backdrop into a slowly changing Rothko-like painting, as one bar of brightness rises up and down amid matching patches of darker color.

Jacques told more -- "Nobody seems to know this, but the architect Philip Johnson was Lincoln Kirstein's secret lover for years." Johnson designed The New York State Theater for Lincoln Center -- which, according to Jacques, was named for Mr. Kirstein, not Abraham Lincoln, just in case you're not on your toes, culture wise. (In truth, the origins of just how Lincoln Center got its name have been lost to the mists of time, but Jacques' story is as good, if not better, than most.)

But finally, Jacques got off the subject of Lincoln's many loves and quipped, when shown a clip of himself dancing on "The Ed Sullivan Show," back in the day, "Ed was an Easter Island statue in a tuxedo, with no understanding of ballet." He then went on to detail the history of ballet -- introduced from Italy to France by Catherine de Medici. This was interesting, but Jacques had no dish on Catherine's sex life, so, you know -- people wandered off to the bar at P.J.'s

For a long while, it's hard to know what's going on in Mark Godden's "Wonder Wild," premiered Thursday by the Milwaukee Ballet. At first it seems a too-literal drama about the James Joyce family. The writer (Patrick Howell) sits aloof, back to the audience and quill in hand. Mother (Raven Wales) and Son (Darren McIntyre) abuse troubled Daughter (Rachel Malehorn) to keep her out of Father's hair.

The piece changes when Howell hops from rock to imaginary rock in an imaginary stream, after Malehorn. The pursuit begins as convincing mime, but the precarious balancings and broad, low jumps morph into a breathtaking abstract dance. Where did the story go?

The program features mostly work by the Bubeníčeks. Except for pieces by the well-known choreographers Heinz Spoerli and Claude Brumachon, and the opening Double Violin Concerto, co-created by the brothers, they were all choreographed by Jiří, and are set mainly to music by his brother Otto.

"We are very close - we trust each other, and our cooperation as choreographer and composer is very inspiring," Jiří says of working with his brother. "I think we speak the same artistic language. Each piece we have created together so far has taught me something new."

Backstage, too, one figure stands out. Supervising New Jersey Ballet's production is former ballerina Eleanor D'Antuono, herself a noted interpreter of "Giselle," when she starred with American Ballet Theatre in the 1960s and '70s. D'Antuono staged the ballet's second act for NJB in 1994, and she advised the company when it presented the whole ballet ten years later. Now D'Antuono says her biggest challenge is making the story convincing.

Audiences today are ready for an innocent girl who falls in love with trouble, not realizing that her handsome beau isn't who he appears to be. It happens all the time. But "you want it to be real," D'Antuono says.

During the broadcast, there will be eight cameras strategically placed throughout the David H. Koch Theater: two cameras onstage (controlled remotely); four in the Orchestra level audience seats; one at the center of the First Ring; and one on the right side of the Second Ring. No camera shot or angle will be left to chance. “It’s fair to say that the camera work is as scripted as what’s on stage,” said Goberman.

The process of scripting the broadcast begins with director Alan Skog. A veteran member of the Live From Lincoln Center team, Skog starts by watching archival footage of a previous performance and analyzing every movement, gesture and interaction. “I sit with the score in front of me and imagine how to present it best to a television audi- ence,” he said. “I am always looking for the drama that is going on.”

The Royal Ballet's new triple bill has a strong framework with a gap in the middle. It starts and finishes with Les Sylphides and The Firebird, celebrating the centenary of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Yet the programme's premiere, Alastair Marriott's new Sensorium, makes an underpowered centre.

Sensorium actually comes with its own strong framework. It's danced to seven Debussy piano preludes, five in lush orchestrations by Colin Matthews. Barry Wordsworth conducts sumptuously. Adam Wiltshire's designs are spacious and atmospheric, dominated by a slatted rectangular shape that curves like a sail. John B Read's lighting glows with aquatic blues and greens, turning golden at the end. Yet Marriott's choreography is lightweight and vague.

The company, which moved into the 1905 structure owned by the Venice church in 2007 and last performed there in January, is continuing its tradition of occupying historic religious spaces by planning to perform at Vibiana, a multi-use venue that occupies the former St. Vibiana's Cathedral.

The Spanish-Baroque structure, built in 1876, was severely damaged in the 1994 Northridge quake and became the center of a preservation battle when the Catholic archdiocese threatened to raze the building. It was reopened in 2005 as a venue for performances and events.

Mr. Baryshnikov is fond of the old-man quips these days. But his performances are hardly portraits of a diminished star. (In an earlier rehearsal the ease and precision with which he whipped through spiraling, off-balance jumps had Mr. Millepied, a New York City Ballet principal, whistling softly in appreciation.) Rather they are portraits of the dancer as mature artist, one with remarkable physical clarity. And, he still has the best hands in the business.

“I am not trying to do material which I cannot do full out,” said Mr. Baryshnikov, who long ago moved on from his career as a virtuosic ballet star in the 1970s and ’80s, creating the White Oak Dance Project with Mark Morris in 1990. He has been focused on his center and an eclectic range of projects. “This is material for an adult.”