<P> Will 18-year-old Rasta Thomas, appearing in his first Gala, be a target for initiation pranks?<P><BR>This preview article is full of good anecdotes, but we don't actually learn who is performing this year. What the heck, enjoy the great stories:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Picture this. After a virtuoso performance, a star dancer heads for the shower. As he relaxes under the spray, he's astonished to find a fully clothed and uninvited autograph-hunter has squeezed in beside him. <P>Making sure her eyes don't wander, she wordlessly shoves sodden paper and pen into his hand. He signs. She leaves.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P> <A HREF="http://www.montrealonline.com/performArts/pages/000902/4080432.html" TARGET=_blank> Now read on</A> <BR><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited September 10, 2000).]

From the above article:<BR>"But not all the high jinks are funny. One trick that caused a lot of grief involved a ballerina known to become nauseated at the sight of food before a performance. Her appearance that night was nearly canceled when she found her dressing room decorated with raw sausages dangling like entrails."<P>That's great - the raw sausages and all - but I think in some circles, that kind of activitiy is called hazing. I'm glad the article mentioned both the things that WERE a good hoot and this one, which obviously wasn't.<P>Not to be a TOTAL wet blanket or anything. <P>

Oh my!<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Once, Fadaychev posed as Ruzimatov for an interview with a Jerusalem newspaper, discussing Ruzimatov's failed marriages, his children and his attitudes to dancing. The interview was duly published without, so far as Melnikoff knows, the hoax ever being discovered.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>