Paul L. Montgomery, Special to The New York Times

The American choroegrapher Mark Morris and his 25 dancers are returning to New York in July as an independent company after three tumultuous years here as employees of the Belgian state.

The parting of the ways came on the eve of Mr. Morris's production of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker," called "The Hard Nut," which opens Saturday. The production, created by Mr. Morris for his friend Mikhail Baryshnikov, who will star in it, was designed by Charles Burns, the comic-strip artist.