Balanchine

One of the big differences between sport and art is that no one expects art to be fair. Few ostensibly sporting endeavors may be less fair than figure skating and gymnastics, sports that resemble ballet and, like ballet, make stars of idealized young women. As the new Olympic season dawns, debate stirs again around these girls - so young, so small, so thin, facing such odds. Should American girls be encouraged, or even allowed, to embrace the discipline and accept the standards it takes to win?

"The Nutcracker" wasn't always a Christmas tradition. As a matter of history, the premiere, which took place in April 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia, was created as a treat for the Russian Easter.But once the New York City Ballet offered "The Nutcracker" as a Christmas ballet, it became a fixture of the American holiday calendar.To set off our list of local "Nutcracker" productions, and to add to your store of "Nutcracker" lore, here's our very own trivia game.1. The writer of the story on which "The Nutcracker" is based was:(a)

Dance on the Edge has gone over the edge.Baltimore's only consistent presenter of modern dance for 11 years, Towson University's Dance on the Edge closed down after losing about $15,000 on its March presentation of Lines Contemporary Ballet from San Francisco.The 12-member company was at Towson for a weeklong residency that included a choreography workshop with its artistic director, Alonzo King. Its fee for the week of classes and performances was $25,000. There were additional expenses for marketing, advertising and technical support, but most of these were donated by university personnel.

Miami City Ballet was in a retro mood when it opened its two-day Wolf Trap engagement Tuesday night. With well-groomed performances of ballets featuring the music of George Gershwin in George Balanchine's "Who Cares!" or The Andrews Sisters in Paul Taylor's "Company B," this attractive and talented dance company had audience members singing along or knowingly bobbing their heads to familiar tunes.But it was the world premiere of a work by the company's resident choreographer, Jimmy Gamonet De Los Heros, "The Big Band Supermegatroid," set to signature pieces of the 1940s, that capped off the troupe's performance and energized the audience.

The Washington Ballet has jumped on the big-band wagon with company member John Goding's newest ballet, "Rhapsody Swing" -- one of three world premieres on the program during the company's run at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater.But unlike Miami Ballet's "The Big Band Supermegatroid," Goding's ballet doesn't merely resuscitate old dance forms. Instead, he follows the choreographic dictates of GeorgeBalanchine and uses the well-worn steps as a springboard to illuminate the well-known music of Glenn Miller and others.

The Washington Ballet has canceled its scheduled February and May appearances in Baltimore."It's purely financial. We have not been able to generate enough ticket sales to justify continuance of our performances there," said Elvi Moore, general director of the ballet.The company drew about 800 to its fall performance in October at Kraushaar Auditorium on the campus of Goucher College, and had been scheduled to return Feb. 12 and May 7."I hope it's temporary," said Ms. Moore. "If we had a sponsor over there it would be one thing, but our subscriber level is low and a lot of other sales are reduced for groups, students and seniors.

The Kennedy Center is bursting at the seams with dance this week, from fake Martha Graham to dazzling ballet virtuosity.American Ballet Theatre, the closest thing this country has to the great Russian troupes, is in the midst of a weeklong run in the Opera House. Its mixed rep program, at 8 tonight, includes Agnes de Mille's "Fall River Legend," a dramatic ballet based on the tormented life of accused ax murderer Lizzie Borden; Sir Frederick Ashton's lilting "Les Patineurs" ("The Skaters")

The U.S. Naval Academy Music Department's 1994-1995 Distinguished Visitors Concert Series promises to be the most exciting in the history of Alumni Hall.The season begins on Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m. with a performance by the Kirov Orchestra of St. Petersburg, under the direction of Valery Gergiev. The talented Russian's career has advanced steadily since he won the Karajan Competition in Berlin at age 23 and moved to the Kirov Opera as Yuri Temirkanov's assistant.Mr. Gergiev will conduct Wagner's Prelude to "Parsifal," Prokofiev's Fifth Piano Concerto and the wrenching Eighth Symphony of Dmitri Shostakovich.

Decisions, decisions. Dance events abound today through Sunday at the Kennedy Center, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts and Howard Community College. The Kennedy Center is hopping tonight and tomorrow at 7: 30 p.m., Saturday at 1: 30 p.m. and 7: 30 p.m. and Sunday at 1: 30 p.m., as dancers of ballerina Suzanne Farrell perform works of George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Maurice Bejart in "Suzanne Farrell Stages the Masters of 20th Century Ballet" at the Terrace Theater, off Virginia and New Hampshire avenues N.W., Washington.