Rachel Moore: back where she belongs: a veteran comes home with a lot on her mind.

Could it be that American Ballet Theatre has finally dismantled those revolving doors to its administrative offices? After five executive directors entered and exited within four years, those whirring portals were starting to wear out. It was downright embarrassing, a joke within the dance community. Nobody in the company, least of all artistic director Kevin McKenzie, wanted to discuss it.

Not to worry: Rachel Moore is in charge now, and she is scarcely a corporate honcho-for-hire type. "American Ballet Theatre was my home; I grew up in these hallways, loving the people, the repertoire, and the culture," she says in a conversation from her Manhattan office. "I know what it all means to ABT and to the country. That gives me instant credibility."

Indeed, 40-year-old Moore, who recently celebrated her first anniversary as executive director, was a member of ABT's corps de ballet between 1984-88. During that time, she served on the dancers' union committee, as well as chairing the Dancers' Emergency Fund. So, she has known ABT from both sides, and, in the current climate for the arts, she feels it matters a lot. "I believe in artistic and administrative working together," Moore says. "You talk things through and you listen, and you hope you rise to the occasion. I've known Kevin for more than 20 years and when I came back, we had an instant understanding of the ABT aesthetic. That helps at the comfort level."

How much has it helped? Well, there was a time in ABT's past when you could not be certain who would be dancing a week hence. That policy has changed. "I believe in long-range planning," Moore continues. "Our principals need to know when they will perform, so they can arrange their schedules. They're smart, responsible adults in a rarefied profession and they should be treated that way."

Moore has entered her second year with a $38.5 million annual budget, a company of 90 dancers each with a three-year contract, and a minimum work load for dancers of 36 weeks, which rises to 38 this summer because of the three-city Japanese tour that follows the Metropolitan Opera House season. She demonstrated her flair for economizing recently when she cancelled the ABT fall tour to the Orange County Performing Arts Center. "We had been booked over the Thanksgiving weekend, when travel and hotel expenses were sky-high, plus there was the overtime bill," she says, "and audiences just aren't thinking about dance during that holiday. We'll be back there."

Moore's interests stretch well into the future. "We've got to focus on building the endowment, so we don't have to raise a fortune every year. ABT is a national company; we must bring that identity to the fore."

Retirement from dancing was not a matter of choice for Moore. "I blew out my foot, sat in a cast for the whole Met season and pondered my next step," she recalls. "Should I undergo surgery or move on? I felt for a while that I was going from dancer to nothing."

But she quit, went back to school, earned honors at Brown and Columbia University, and spent a busy decade in arts management in the not-for-profit sector. "I wanted to give back; the arts transform our lives," she says.

Where career transitions are concerned, Moore eagerly plays the role of poster ballerina: "Hire dancers," she declares. "They're disciplined, punctual, meet deadlines, and take criticism well. They get the job done."