Heart throbmoves on.

REX HARRINGTON is about as close as a man can get to being a household name in Canada without playing hockey. He is the most famous danseur noble this country has produced. In honor of his long and distinguished career, Harrington was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000. In addition to becoming a national icon who partnered beloved Canadian ballerinas Karen Kain and Evelyn Hart, the charismatic heartthrob also achieved international success as swain to Ekaterina Maximova, Carla Fracci, Susan Jaffe, Alessandra Ferri, and Sabina Allemann. As Kain points out, Harrington's career was anchored in sensational partnering rather than dazzling technique. "Everything is beautiful about Rex," she says.

The National Ballet of Canada dedicated its 2003-04 season to Harrington to mark both his twentieth anniversary with the company and his last year as a principal dancer. Now 41, Harrington is stepping down from princely roles and grappling with his future. Last December, he hammed things up doing eight shows a week in Toronto's annual Christmas kiddie musical, which gave him a taste of theater. Currently he is taking acting lessons, has hired an agent, and would like to work in television. Former NBC ballerina Veronica Tennant, now a film producer, has starred the dancer in five of her productions and testifies to the fact that the camera loves Harrington's brooding good looks, raven hair, and startling blue eyes. Harrington also has another non dance project on the go: He is writing his autobiography.

However, NBC's artistic director, James Kudelka, has other plans for Harrington. He sees him performing the odd role on stage as he moves into coaching and teaching as ballet master. "It's a clash of visions," says Harrington, "because I don't know if I'm ready for an office in the building. I keep saying, if I get an acting role, I'm out of here. We just may come to blows some day."

On the other hand, Kudelka might know Harrington better than the dancer knows himself. Kudelka has already given Harrington responsibility for rehearsing several of his ballets, coaching principal men in roles he made famous with NBC, and teaching company class--all of which, concedes Harrington, has given him enormous satisfaction. "I recognize the fact that there's a big role for me to play in the company, because I'm well-respected for what I put on the stage. I know what it's like to be a dancer, and the men need a male coach, particularly in smoothing out the ripples in partnering. I also understand James' choreographic quirks and what lie looks for musically and stylistically. After all, half his works were set on me, so there's a huge future here at the National if I want it."

The dancer has often referred to the Rex Harrington whose name appears all in capital letters, and the one whose name appears in lower case. The former is the performer who lives for the stage and public adoration; the latter is the real person inside. Says Harrington, "I'm resigned to going through the identity crisis of not being a dancer any more, and letting the big 'RH' go. That's my real job in this coming year."