Peter Anastos chosen to lead the ballet in Cincinnati.

CINCINNATI--After fifteen years working as a free-lance choreographer, and after serving ten years as director of Garden State Ballet in New Jersey, Peter Anastos was named artistic director of Cincinnati Ballet (CB) in July. "I'm lucky in my life," says Anastos. "To be hired at this time signifies a real renewal on every level."

Since Anastos is no stranger to Cincinnati--he has staged seven ballets here since 1981--it is hoped that he will bring stability and vision to its ballet company, a $3.2-million operation that for a variety of reasons has had three directors in seven years.

Plagued by a $700,000 debt four years ago, the troupe has improved its financial status significantly. The debt and an accumulated deficit have been erased; the 1993 season ended with an $84,000 accumulated surplus. While CB still offers fewer local performances than before, and has thirty-two annual work weeks (down from thirty-eight in 1990), the roster is back up to thirty-two dancers (from twenty-six), with extras hired as needed.

The company's stringent business management appears to have won back the confidence of Cincinnati's corporate community, foundations, and arts donors. This fall CB will break ground on a new $1.25-million company home downtown where it can consolidate operations now spread over three locations. Next fall CB moves its subscription series from the 3,400-seat Music Hall to Cincinnati's new $92-million Aronoff Center for the Arts downtown, currently under construction. The varying size of the Aronoff's theaters will give CB new options in terms of the number and the kinds of performances it can schedule.

Nearly all CB's dancers are returning for 1994-95, as is ballet master Dennis Poole, who served briefly as acting artistic director last spring.

An original production of Peter Pan--commissioned from Anastos by departing director Nigel Burgoine as a cost-sharing venture with Ballet West--opens the season, with performances October 28-30 at the Music Hall. The ballet, which has an original score by CB music director Carmon DeLeone, will have its Utah premiere in October 1995. Production costs are about $250,000, with The Corbett Foundation the principal underwriter in Cincinnati. Flying effects will be handled by Foy Inventerprises, Inc.

Anastos says he has no intention of turning CB into a one-choreographer company, however. "Unlike a company I'd be starting, I'm inheriting a rich and diverse repertoire," he comments. "My ballets will be a wing of the repertoire, but as director, I'll be doing less choreography."

As someone with a strong interest in ballet history, he views the modest versions of the classics the company has increasingly relied on to bolster box-office receipts as a happy opportunity. He has asked Frederic Franklin to restore Giselle for the February 1995 series "because his Giselle is a great Giselle." Anastos will restage the complete Swan Lake in May.

He believes it is important to cement a future relationship with retired New York City Ballet ballerina and Cincinnati native Suzanne Farrell, who has staged seven ballets by George Balanchine in Cincinnati during the last three seasons. "How she coaches and teaches is priceless to our dancers," says Anastos, adding, "The company is worthy of her visits."

He also wants to invite other choreographers to Cincinnati "who will challenge the dancers to do something that has to do with their training--responsible people, who can deal with and respect the demands of classical dancers."