TRIBUTES

The Way It Was: American Ballet Theater paid tribute Monday to one of its former leading dancers, 80-year-old Igor Youskevitch, during the opening night of its nine-week season in New York. Youskevitch recalled his debut with the company in the “Black Swan” pas de deux with Alicia Alonso at the old Metropolitan Opera House 40-plus years ago, saying, “To tell you the truth, I still hear the applause.” Oliver Smith, co-director of the company at that time, introduced Youskevitch as “one of the greatest artists who ever danced in our lifetime.”