NAMES IN THE NEWS : N.Y. Ballet Director Kirstein Retiring

Lincoln Kirstein, who persuaded master choreographer George Balanchine to come to America and establish a ballet school here 55 years ago, is retiring.

The 82-year-old director of the New York City Ballet and its affiliated School of American Ballet said he will step down Nov. 1.

Kirstein and Balanchine, who died six years ago, founded the school in 1934 after Kirstein got Balanchine to move from Europe. The dance company was begun in 1946. Kirstein is a writer on cultural topics as well as a novelist and a poet, and has tried recently to devote more time to writing.