William Forsythe's Ballett Frankfurt may have disappeared last year, a victim of government budget cuts, but in its place the choreographer has created an even more flexible and trans-disciplinary creative unit: the Forsythe Company, an eighteen-artist ensemble (based in Dresden and Frankfurt) whose productions will leave traditional notions of ballet behind, with site-specific performances, interventions in public spaces, and audience participation.

Perhaps better recognized as a cellist, Krovoza has conducted for Long Beach Ballett, Riverside Ballet, Riverside Symphony, Pasadena Young Musicians Orchestra, Northern Arizona University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras and others.

Golden Masks, which are awarded annually for the best stage performances in Russia, were given to John Neumeier, for his Midsummer Night's Dream for the Bolshoi Ballet, and David Dawson, former principal with Ballett Frankfurt and resident choreographer for Dresden Semperoper Ballet, for the choreography of Reverance, created for the Kirov Ballet.