"We were dreamers," he said. "We were impractical. I knew that something like that would take at least two years, not only to get the production done, costumes done, but to raise the appropriate funds."

Fredmann did not know when, if ever, the Wheeldon work would come to the Colorado. "I'm not even going to think about it right now," he said. "I have to just think about getting through this production next year. But I'm open to anything, and we'll see."

The Washington Ballet is scheduled to perform Alice in Wonderland in May 2006, a production, if it goes forward, that may now prove to be the work's world premiere.

Colorado Ballet will replace the new work with a revival of Marius Petipa's Sleeping Beauty. Other works on the schedule include Fredmann's adaptation of Cinderella, The Nutcracker, and a modern-dance program of works by Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, and Jessica Lang.

The company is also collaborating with Denver Center Attractions to produce Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake in a touring production next February.