Toronto surprise.

James Kudelka stepped down June 30, after nine years as artistic director of Toronto-based National Ballet of Canada, and assumed the title of resident choreographer. The news elicited warm personal tributes and laudatory Canadian media assessments of his sometimes controversial tenure.

The abruptness of Kudelka's departure, announced May 18, came as a shock to tearful dancers at the end of a busy season. It was widely known, however, that Kudelka, who had a primary allegiance to choreographing, had grown weary of the larger responsibility of running a major company, albeit one with excellent administrative and artistic support. In a statement, Kudelka, who declined interviews, said that as NBC prepares for the move in 2006 to a new opera house--a transition that will require the company to expand despite chronic funding problems--he felt it was an apt moment to hand over the leadership.

According to David Banks, chair of NBC's trustees, Kudelka, 49, had been contemplating his departure since last fall. Banks said that Kudelka, who was the longest serving NBC director since founder Celia Franca, left voluntarily, for personal reasons. He stressed that the company is eager to retain a creative relationship with Kudelka who, apart from a lengthy sojourn (1981-90) with Montreal's Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, has been associated with NBC since joining as a dancer in 1972.

When he succeeded Reid Anderson in 1996, most observers did not foresee his remaining this long. Kudelka once said that seven years seemed a likely limit. It almost ended much sooner when in 1999 Kudelka became embroiled in a nasty, headline-making lawsuit with Kimberly Glasco, a senior NBC ballerina whose contract he had declined to renew. The public battle plunged Kudelka into depression and was eventually settled out of court with neither side a clear winner. Kudelka bounced back to spearhead an artistic transformation of NBC.

From its somewhat staid image as a purveyor of well-dressed classics, NBC was shaped into a youthful, creative, and risk-taking troupe. Kudelka commissioned works from emerging Canadian choreographers and shopped judiciously in the international, pre-owned ballet warehouse. He also choreographed four full-length works--most recently the sexy, popular comedy An Italian Straw Hat--and several shorter ballets to add to NBC's existing Kudelka repertoire. Some creations were ambitious flops--notably his 2002 The Contract, savaged in April by New York critics. But others, such as The Four Seasons and last year's Cinderella, soon to be acquired by Boston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, were major hits.

NBC planned a comprehensive search for Kudelka's successor. The fact that it has installed him as resident choreographer--definitely not a letterhead title, said board chair Banks--suggests that choreographic ability won't be a requirement of candidacy.

If she wanted the lob and could square it with her responsibilities as chair of the Canada Council for the Arts, former company ballerina Karen Kain, hired by Kudelka as his artistic associate in 1998, would have a strong claim. More accessible than the moody, undiplomatic, media-shy Kudelka, the glamorous Kain has proved herself tough and resourceful, and would be much more than a figurehead. She might provide stability and prudence in the aftermath of Kudelka's exciting but sometimes turbulent directorship.