BACKSTAGE: On the day she was named...

BACKSTAGE: On the day she was named artistic co-director of American Ballet Theatre (F2), Jane Hermann flew here from New York to tell the company, in Costa Mesa on its 50th anniversary tour. . . . Hermann, in charge of the ABT’s business side since September, summoned dancers, costumers, makeup artists and others to a 4 p.m. backstage huddle at the Performing Arts Center. “She expressed her pride” in the appointment, says spokesman Robert Pontarelli, and “everyone applauded.”