DANCE

American Ballet Theatre management announced that the company and its dancers have agreed to a new three-year contract, six months before the old contract was scheduled to expire. The New York Times reported Tuesday that the last two labor negotiations the company handled wound up creating eight-week work stoppages each time, but the smoothness of the negotiations this year “is very good news for all (ABT’s) audiences and supporters,” according to the company’s executive director, Charles Dillingham. In the new contract--which, like the last one, guarantees 36 weeks of work to the dancers--the average weekly salary for corps dancers is $700; soloists, $990 a week; and principal dancers, $1,125 a week. All the figures represent increases over the previous contract. The new contract also includes a dental plan, the first such benefit offered by the ABT.