The budget for the nine-member company was down this past year to $175,000, from its height at $550,000 in 1999. Linda Andrews, artistic director of Zenon Dance Company in Minneapolis (where Buraczeski was co-artistic director for three years), said "It's really sad to lose Jazzdance, but in this climate, it's been a long time coming."

She added, "Danny will do well; he's a really strong choreographer and teacher who will be in great demand. But it speaks to the state of our arts groups, which are underfunded. The only other group of artists who are worse off than the dancers are the poets."

Jazzdance was started by Buraczeski in New York in 1979, and moved to the Twin Cities in 1989. The company has performed, to good reviews, at New York's Joyce Theater, and Buraczeski was named Star Tribune Artist of the Year in 2000.

Buraczeski, who trained as a dancer in New York, will move to Texas to teach at Southern Methodist University, and to continue his work as a choreographer.