The Guggenheim Museum has cancelled the exhibition “Cezanne: The Dawn of Modern Art,” which was to have opened February 10, because it was unable to borrow a number of works of art, according Crain’s New York Business. The show was to have run for three months.

The show, organized by the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany, is on exhibit there until January. It includes more than 100 pictures by such painters as Braque, Picasso, and Leger, among others. Museums that loaned works include the Hermitage, the Louvre, and the Metropolitan Museum.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STIEFEL LEAVING ABT Yet another ballet dancer is leaving New York for the West Coast. American Ballet Theatre’s Ethan Stiefel has been selected to be the artistic director of Ballet Pacifica. Though he officially assumes his new role in fall 2005, he’s already preparing for the change.

“There’s a lot of work to be done before that,” Mr. Stiefel said.

He’ll have extraordinary help in getting that work done. Fellow ABT principal Amanda McKerrow and her dancer husband John Gardner will be joining the company as members of the artistic staff. With these two performers, plus Mr. Stiefel, training up-and-coming dancers, the results will surely be good.

Based in Irvine, Calif., Ballet Pacifica is a small company of just 8 dancers that currently offers a mix of contemporary and classical works. Mr. Stiefel said he plans to expand the repertory and increase the company’s Balanchine offerings. Which is only fitting: Mr. Stiefel is a product of the School of American Ballet and was a principal at New York City Ballet before joining ABT. His list of credits includes a long list of Balanchine ballets ranging from “Apollo” to “Stars and Stripes.”

Though Mr. Stiefel said he hadn’t been actively seeking a new leadership role, he has spent some time recently branching out from dancing. “I’ve been exploring coaching and teaching,” he said. The Ballet Pacifica deal came about when the company’s executive director, Thomas Gulick, was discussing his needs with Mr. Stiefel’s manager, who then suggested the dancer.

The news has a twist of life imitating art: In the 2000 movie “Center Stage,” Mr. Stiefel’s character leaves a large ballet company to start his own independent troupe. But there’s a significant difference here. Mr. Stiefel, a young dancer with many good years ahead of him, plans to continue dancing with ABT while he helms the West Coast company. “I still have a few years left on stage,” he said modestly.

Mr. Stiefel is certainly not the first male dancer to balance performing and leading his own company. ABT principal Vladimir Malakhov is currently the artistic director of the Berlin Opera Ballet. And Julio Bocca is artistic director of Ballet Argentino. It may not be the easiest thing for ABT’s artistic director Kevin McKenzie to handle, but it means classical ballet is in very capable hands.

– Pia Catton