Dance is over for Feld troupe

“Pervasive economic woes” will cause Eliot Feld’s Ballet Tech company in New York City to suspend operations for the 2003-04 season.

In a letter to the dance troupe’s friends and supporters this week, choreographer and company founder Feld said a projected deficit of $665,000 for next year led to the decision -- due in part to a continuing reduction in grants from the company’s principal supporter, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, which have gone from a 1994 high of $822,290 to a promise of $350,000 next year.

The 14-member company had performances scheduled at the Joyce Theater in Manhattan, which will now be canceled. A company-affiliated school, which offers free instruction in dance and academics to New York City public school students, will remain in operation.

-- Diane Haithman