THE HUMAN TOUCH.('HereAfter')(Theater Review)

On the surface, American Ballet Theatre looks as though it's becoming more and more like itself, a conservative opera-house troupe delivering the old-time religion--"Swan Lake," guest stars, multiple pirouettes--while now and then also putting on lame new pieces. Yet there does seem to be a change at A.B.T. since Kevin McKenzie took over as artistic director a decade ago. Basically, the classics are looking better and better, and the new ballets are getting worse.

I wonder if there is not another company history operating here. McKenzie grew up as a dancer in the Joffrey Ballet in the nineteen-seventies. The Joffrey still exists, in reduced form, in Chicago, but ...