Billed as three solos and a duet, the pieces share what Baryshnikov calls "a European touch." His world-class choreographers are Laguna's husband, Swedish choreographer Mats Ek; French-born New York City Ballet principal dancer Benjamin Millepied; and former Bolshoi Artistic Director Alexei Ratmansky, now the artist in residence at American Ballet Theatre. The pieces are all "very personal," says Baryshnikov. "These choreographers tend to carve their pieces from inside out. This is definitely not mainstream American dance."

Back in January this year, it became clear that a new generation of star dancers was emerging at the Royal Ballet. Yuhui Choe and Sergei Polunin began the season in the corps de ballet, but they were pushed into the limelight in a sensational one-off performance as the leads in the full-length ballet La bayadère.

Prokovsky ended up embracing and transmuting great works of fiction. His success was undeniable, at least on a certain level. From my own perspective watching the Louisville Ballet's productions of "Karenina" and "Gatsby," I sometimes felt that his method bordered on a kind of dance demagoguery, so populist in design and appeal that the core dance elements weren't terribly interesting.

Workers hammered and drilled the now temporary wooden platforms that sit atop the newly renovated pit. This removable floor will allow the Opera House to keep the premium seats for touring shows. When the ballet performs to live music, the floor goes and the orchestra gets more room.

That’s important as the company embarks Sept. 19 on its first full season in the Opera House after more than three decades at the Wang Theatre. The $450,000 pit renovation was part of Boston Ballet’s deal to sign a 30-year lease with Live Nation, to which Clear Channel transferred ownership in 2006.

The Galveston Ballet will start up new classes Monday following a season in energetic exile. The regional pre-professional ballet company and academy is just now back home in its reconstructed studio at 23rd and Market streets. Pushed out of those quarters by Hurricane Ike’s surge waters a year ago, the ballet company didn’t allow the stumble to stop the show.

“Our philosophy is when you fall down, you get up, you smile; you stay focused and you keep dancing,” Julia Furlong, board of directors president, said. “That’s what we’re doing."