Although New York City Ballet.

Although New York City Ballet won't begin to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary until November, when its winter season opens with the mother of all galas, its official birthday is October 11th. This is the month, therefore, when William Morrow and Company publishes Tributes: Celebrating 50 Years of New York City Ballet, a most distinctive compilation of fact (every NYCB dancer, dance, and score is listed) and some fanciful salutes.

The editors have gathered contributions from intellectuals, photographers, musicians, and poets and have juxtaposed these in intriguing, resonant ways. An admiring letter to company cofounder Lincoln Kirstein from Martha Graham, for instance, faces a glowering, unfinished portrait of Kirstein, begun by Lucian Freud. A note explains that Freud quit after the notoriously truculent Kirstein quarreled with him.

Inevitably, George Balanchine dominates. How could he not? No one photograph could sum up Mr. B, but the one from Steven Caras--a former NYCB Dancer--has a special impact for those who know how to read it. You cannot tell it was made on July 4, 1982, but the bouquets on the floor indicate the season's final performance (the company used to be bombarded with them on such evenings), and the costumes say a performance of Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3, had just been given (Merrill Ashley and Sean Lavery are in costume for "Theme and Variations"). As he often did when one of his ballets ended the closing program, he has taken a solo bow. A year later he was dead.