It’s pas de dough for ballet funds

Funding for ballet has never been more turbulent than in the current financial climate, and three major American companies learned this week how easily big money can come -- or go.

First, a recently deceased longtime supporter of Boston Ballet left the company $3 million, the largest individual gift in its 40-year history. That amount will double the organization’s endowment at a time of major artistic and administrative changes.

Meanwhile, in New York, the Movado Watch Co. has withdrawn its support for the financially troubled American Ballet Theatre -- support that began in 1986 and that Movado says has amounted to more than $400,000 a year -- with questions about the ABT’s financial management reportedly leading to the decision.

The watch company’s funding will now benefit ABT’s longtime rival, the New York City Ballet, and specifically its Balanchine Centennial project, which begins Nov. 25.

-- Lewis Segal