DANCE

The Dallas Ballet, which has been tiptoeing around a $1.8-million debt for the last year, canceled its spring program Friday and laid off its 33 dancers and most of its staff. “This is it, we’ve run out of money,” said ballet president Karl Zavitkovsky, who added the company would be liquidated on March 15 if it failed to reorganize by then. Zavitkovsky said a skeleton staff would work on raising $400,000 to cover immediate costs and to develop a restructuring plan over the next few weeks. The troupe’s last 25 performances had sold out but fund-raising efforts in the community failed to meet expectations, making the troupe unable to cover its $3-million yearly budget. Soviet dancer Andrei Ustinov, who defected from the Moscow Ballet during its tour of Dallas last October, had recently joined the company.