Say it ain’t so!

Well, it’s sad, but true: Peter Boal, New York City Ballet principal dancer, teacher, and all-around example of a stellar performing artist, is leaving town. He’s been selected to be the artistic director of Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet and will leave for the West Coast after City Ballet’s spring season. Congratulations are in order. But Seattle’s gain is New York’s very significant loss.

If you’re not familiar with Mr. Boal’s masterful dancing, you have until July 1 to get a taste. A clean, clear ballet dancer, Mr. Boal balances boyish charm with masculine power. He uses this clever mix to his advantage most impressively when dancing “Apollo,” in which he creates a sense of wonder at the world – yet maintains his dominance of it. Watching him in abstract Balanchine ballets is like watching musical harmony in human form. And he can also switch things up and play a charming, stately Oberon in “Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Mr. Boal is not just a fine dancer. He’s also a bold leader in the creative arts. A few years ago he launched an effort called Peter Boal Solos, in which he asked several choreographers to create works for him. (A fun reversal of roles; choreographers usually do the asking.) The outgrowth of that solo project was a slightly larger effort, Peter Boal and Company – which now includes six dancers. With this project, Mr. Boal matched dancers with choreographers in ways that produced rich, intensely artistic performances.

The good news is that Peter Boal and Company will continue on stage, both in the short term and possibly in the long term, with dancers from PNB. In the short term, City Ballet dancers will be joining Mr. Boal for a season at the Joyce Theater starting March 15. Five pieces will be present ed, including a solo for the company leader.

Though his absence will be felt greatly on the State Theater stage, the dancer does offer up some consolation. “I’m realizing that it’s not really that far,” he told me. “I’ll keep the relationship going with New York.” By which he means he hopes to tour with PNB and visit often with his namesake company. (Oh, those pesky long-distance relationships.)

Another consolation is that Mr. Boal’s move to Seattle is a good move for ballet; it ensures that a solid American company is in very good hands. He succeeds Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, who have led the company since 1977.

Rather than start over or take the company in a drastically new direction, Mr. Boal is making sounds of enriching or deepening the company’s existing skills. “I’m very comfortable with a Balanchine and Robbins base for this company. I certainly want it to be a company where dancers have a great artistic experience.”

In a perfect world, he’d expand the repertoire by reaching out to choreographers whom he admires, including William Forsythe, Nacho Duato, and Twyla Tharp. But he speaks as someone who leads with understanding and patience. Of the PNB dancers (of which there are currently 43), he said: “I just want to work them, and we’ll see where we can go together.”

Hmm, how about New York City – on a regular basis?

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Just to keep the New York City Ballet mood going, tonight is opening night at the State Theater. The bill – “Ballet Four Ways” – is designed to feature work from the company’s main choreographers. A new work, “Octet,” by artistic director Peter Martins, opens this evening. That’s followed by Christopher Wheeldon’s “Liturgy,” then George Balanchine’s “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux.” The night ends with Jerome Robbins’s brilliant crossover tribute to Fred Astaire, “I’m Old Fashioned.” After opening night, the company starts up its 50th anniversary run of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker,” starting Friday and running until January 2.

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And speaking of excellent male dancers, a discussion panel loaded with them was assembled last week at Marymount Manhattan College. The main speaker, NYCB’s Damian Woetzel, was asked to bring along some friends to lead a discussion about the future of ballet. Luckily for the mainly female audience, those friends were three ballet boys who are quite easy on the eyes: Ethan Steifel of American Ballet Theater, John Selya of “Movin’ Out,” and Christopher Wheeldon, choreographer in residence at NYCB.

As professionals speaking to students, the panel kept things light and positive, but they didn’t shy away from some rather serious insights to the issues they face. The dancers were in agreement that choreographers do not have enough time to create works when commissioned. Mr. Wheeldon’s situation – as a resident choreographer with an entire company at his disposal and individuals to create works on closely and regularly – was regarded as a luxury.

A healthy portion of the discussion went to talk of how dance companies are not nurturing environments. Dancers can wind up feeling very much alone and without guidance from the top. Mr. Woetzel pointed out, though, that older dancers reach out to younger individuals. And Mr. Selya recalled the tight collegial atmosphere in which dancers encourage and push each other.

What was quite clear is that once dancers make it into a company, there is no room for resting on laurels. Dancers can easily become complacent and forget that their acceptance into the company is based on potential. Will they reach it, or squander it?

Mr. Wheeldon bemoaned the fact that ticket prices are too expensive. And Mr. Steifel suggested that while the big ballet companies will always be with us, smaller, streamlined companies will be the successful ones going forward.

As serious as the topics were, these gents had a good time and got in some gentle ribbing. Mr. Selya stopped the discussion at one point to check in with Mr. Wheeldon – a Brit – on the usage of the word “befuddlement.”

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“You’re so funny!” cried a loud, unselfconscious child’s voice from the Saturday-night audience at Brooklyn Academy of Music. No audience interjection could have been more perfect during Pina Bausch’s “Fur die Kinder von Gestern, Heute und Morgen.” The spontaneous comment came as one of the dancers drew a circle and explained “This is a hug.” She then drew and “X” and said “This is a kiss.” As she drew more and said repeatedly “A hug, a kiss,” she looked out at the audience with her captivating, expressive face.

How touching that a work of dance theater could provoke such a reaction – especially a work that examines and celebrates the innocence of children. It’s a testament to the dancer’s ability to create a mood – and on a higher level, to Ms. Bausch’s ability to create a concept – that it could engage a child so completely. “Fur die Kinder” was long and varied, but aggressively heartfelt and thought provoking. That child speaking up, though, gave the work a totally new dimension.