UNIVERSITY OF UTAH'S DISTINGUISHED DANCE PROFESSOR RETIRES.

Bene Arnold, distinguished professor of ballet at the University of Utah, retired this month after twenty-six years of teaching. The 65-year-old Texas native may be leaving university life, but not the dance world. Arnold plans to continue working with Ballet West, where for the last fifteen Nutcrackers, she has turned hundreds of kids into Claras, partygoers, and mice. Still, at the university, her departure leaves shoes that are difficult to fill--especially since she was brought to the school by Willam Christensen, the dance department's founder.

Arnold's connection with Christensen dates back to her days as a student at the early San Francisco Ballet School and then as a soloist and ballet mistress with the San Francisco Ballet. Christensen and his brother Harold bought the San Francisco Opera Ballet in 1942, renamed it, and served as codirectors of SFB for years.

It was no coincidence, then, that when Arnold decided to pursue a degree in ballet in 1962, she chose the University of Utah in Salt Lake City where, eleven years earlier, Willam Christensen had established the first ballet department at an American university. When he founded the Utah Civic Ballet in 1963, which later became Ballet West, he made Arnold its ballet mistress.

Arnold remained at Ballet West until 1975, when she joined the university ballet department as a full-time faculty member, teaching advanced technique, pointe, and choreography along with two courses on the history of the performing arts. By 1979, Arnold had also completed a master's of fine art in choreography and a master's in education, with an emphasis in elementary education for the deaf.

Though an active member of the university, Arnold never really left Ballet West. She continues to appear in character roles, including her highly noted portrayal of Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty. And since 1986, she has directed the auditions and rehearsals for the nearly 350 children who participate in The Nutcracker. Arnold doesn't plan to relinquish these duties any time soon. She also hopes to pursue her interest in politics and writing and has even considered teaching elementary school. "I tell people I'm not retiring," says Arnold, "I'm just leaving."