Stiefel Towers

'Did you see Ethan in Valse-Fantaisie?

I stood in the wings getting goose bumps. "

The speaker is a senior ballerina with the New York. City Ballet, a no-nonsense professional; ecstasy is not a standard feature of her shop talk.

Eighteen-year-old Ethan Stiefel is NYCB 's newest phenomenon. Even the sternest critics have been heard sighing with delight at the sight of hi dancing. The NYCB spring season should turn the volume up. For the company's Diamond Project festival of contemporary choreography, Stiefel is one of two men in the latest American premiere by Euro-choreographer William Forsythe. The son of a prison warden, Stiefel has an offstage rep for street smarts. "I want a life, " he says, already knowing there is more to his than just a stage where he can "kick ass. " He's got a Harley to prove it.

OTIS STUART