The New York Times reports on ballet companies whose patrons sponsor dancers:

?In a surprisingly entrepreneurial move, American ballet companies have recently begun allowing donors to sponsor individual dancers, for amounts that range from $2,500 to $100,000 a year. Some ballet companies even compile and distribute rosters, which look eerily like shopping lists, specifying their dancers’ ranks and prices . . .

?The first time you look at your photo and you see where you’re from and `so-and-so’s artistry is supported by whoever,’ ” said Ethan Stiefel, a principal with Ballet Theater, “the first time it’s a little different. But you get used to it.

“You have to have a practical sense of what the business of ballet is. It’s kind of a fact of life of arts in America.??

I?d seen this at ABT but had no idea the practice was this widespread . . .

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