Like opera, ballet has generally been considered an elite art in America. It seems surprising, therefore, that one of the major trends in dance during the 1960s was a proliferation of regional ballet companies featuring young performers; in 1960 there were an estimated 150 such companies in the United States, and by 1968 the number had risen to 200. This development is less surprising, however, given the fact that the country experienced a significant increase in regional theaters, galleries, and performances during the 1960s. While some critics found the offerings of the New York theaters limited in the early 1960s, others praised the innovations and experiments that regional theaters such as Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., took on. Their sometimes precarious existence, already encouraged by the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation, was eased after 1965 by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Along with major regional...