Classical ballet demands grace under pressure, but for Houston Ballet principal Mireille Hassenboehler, that could take on a whole new meaning. Artistic director Stanton Welch has been toying with using live snakes in his new production of La Bayadere (Feb. 25-March 7). The 19th century classic, set in ancient India, has a famous scene where a venomous asp bites the heroine Nikiya, who refuses an antidote because her lover Solar has deserted her. In true Bollywood spirit, Welch had his ballerinas pose with some harmless snakes for the publicity shoot.

In 1985, the San Francisco Ballet took a huge risk in appointing Helgi Tomasson as its artistic director and the successor to Lew Christensen. Tomasson had just retired from a distinguished dancing career at New York City Ballet and elsewhere, winning acclaim for the purity of his movement style. He had earned his share of honors, including the silver medal at the first International Ballet Competition in Moscow in 1970 (the same year that Mikhail Baryshnikov took the gold).

This month’s issue of Dance Magazine, a leading national publication in the field, features a package I wrote on the Atlanta dance scene — and the articles may be of interest to Atlanta’s arts community.

On March 25, 1983, Michael Jackson took one small, backward step onto a television stage — and one giant leap into dance-floor history. The thin, angular pop star was only 24 years old when he took an obscure break-dancing move and transformed it into one of the most recognizable routines of all time.

Last May Sarah Kaufman wrote a tirade in The Washington Post entitled, “Make Room Onstage for More Than One Genius.” In it she claimed that “we are cursed with an overload” of Balanchine’s works. She pined for more “human” ballets, like those of Lew Christensen, Eugene Loring, and Catherine Littlefield in the 1930s, and called for a return to narrative.

After hours of researching summer ballet programs, you’ve finally settled on your top choices. Now only one thing stands between you and an inspiring, worthwhile summer: the summer study audition. You know you have what it takes, but how can you make sure the panel knows too? As with any audition, your success comes down to more than good, solid technique. The impression you make also depends on your attitude, presentation, and state of mind, since panelists look for strong dancers who are also promising students.

When Peter Boal retired from New York City Ballet in 2005, he left a gap at the dance barre. As it happens, there just aren’t enough well-proportioned, innately elegant men with scrupulous

SO many bookstalls still carry tributes to Michael Jackson that we’re constantly reminded that 2009 brought his death. Thanks to video, his dancing — best in the years before he became a bizarre self-parody — stays remarkable.

I am enjoying this season greatly, but the judges need to quit being so anxious to show their approval for this round of dancers -- how many dream teams, favorite dances and power couples can there be? As one friend of mine says when she's making fun of the judges' comments, "Superlative! Superlative! Superlative!"