When she first arrived in the West, Makarova was eager to expand her choreography by dancing ballets by modern choreographers.

It was a capital idea for the New York City Ballet to move both into repertory and into high gear in its 50th-anniversary season on Tuesday night with four gloriously danced ballets that George Balanchine choreographed to Igor Stravinsky's music.

Dancing ballets like the modernistic "Four Temperaments" or "Agon," he observed, would not have been quite the same rich experience if he had not been cast as a danseur noble in "La Source" the night before.

The company will dance ballets by Stanton Welch and Alexei Ratmansky, whose new "Leah," set to Leonard Bernstein's "Dybbuk," will be performed.

The sensation that Julio Bocca, the young virtuoso from Argentina, created in 1987 when he made his debut with Ballet Theater, repeatedly dancing roles in full-length classics or other ballets that played to his strong points, would be impossible this year.

Although she particularly enjoyed dramatic roles, she also danced abstract ballets.

Asked about American choreographers he admires, he said he would like to dance ballets by Jerome Robbins, particularly "Other Dances," and by George Balanchine.

Miss Kaye was known as a Tudor ballerina, but she danced ballets by many other contemporary choreographers, including Jerome Robbins, George Balanchine, Valerie Bettis, Kenneth MacMillan, John Taras and Herbert Ross, whom she married in 1959.

Von Grona began dancing and directing ballets at the Roxy Theatre in 1935.

Ballet dancers dance ballets.