THE ARTS

'Billy Elliot' Inspires Young Male Dancers

London's Royal Ballet has succumbed to the "Billy Elliot" effect, it seems.

For the first time in its 76-year history, the institution has accepted more boys than girls--a development that officials there chalk up, in part, to the release of the 2000 film in which the 11-year-old son of a coal miner leaves home to pursue a ballet career.

This year, the enrollment at both the Royal Ballet's junior and senior schools will be made up of 14 boys and only 10 girls. Last year, eight boys and 12 girls joined White Lodge, the junior school for 11- to 16-year-olds to which the film's hero won acceptance. "There has been a significant increase in the number of boys who want full-time training and are willing to take on ballet as a vocation," said Gailene Stock, director of the Royal Ballet School. "The film has certainly had some effect on the younger boys. A number ... have said that 'Billy Elliot' made them feel more comfortable about telling people they are ballet dancers."

Architect Sought for Lincoln Center Design

Aiming to rebuild Manhattan's 40-year-old Avery Fisher Hall as part of a $1.2-billion redevelopment effort at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, officials of the Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra have invited symphonic-hall design proposals from a short list of big-name architects.

Though current plans call for a 2,400-seat symphony hall at a cost of $340 million, much of the redevelopment is still under discussion as the center's 13 resident cultural organizations continue to raise funds and skirmish over details.

Earlier this month, Lincoln Center leaders invited 11 firms to submit proposals for a new symphony hall, with interviews to follow in May and selection in October. Rebecca Robertson, executive director of the Lincoln Center Constituent Development Project, said the architects invited to compete included the following: Frank Gehry; Renzo Piano; Sir Norman Foster; Arata Isozaki; Toyo Ito; Richard Meier; the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Rafael Moneo; Rem Koolhaas; Jean Nouvel and Christian de Portzamparc.

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MOVIES

Sharon Documentary Pulled From Festival

The Toronto Jewish Film Festival has scrapped plans to show "The Accused," an award-winning documentary on Ariel Sharon, Israel's controversial prime minister, because of security concerns. The BBC film, investigating Sharon's involvement in the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, was to be screened today.