“I’m a tyrant,” claims ballet icon Suzanne Farrell, while coaching dancers of Boston Ballet recently at the company’s rehearsal space in the South End. But she says it with a warm smile, a soft voice, ...

It's a long shot almost beyond contemplation: Imagine the ballet equivalent of hockey's Miracle on Ice, or of the nearly winless Buster Douglas setting his sights on Mike Tyson's heavyweight belt.

The orchestra conductor sounds as if he’s plucking notes out of an atmosphere denser than Earth’s. The men and women onstage, wearing black and white leotards and tights, gingerly begin to move ...