Stars in Search of a Heaven

By * Alan Rich

For 30 years the American Ballet Theatre has led two contrasting lives. In one, it basks in a measure of critical acclaim shared by few dance troupes anywhere. In the other, it is constantly shadowed by the threat of bankruptcy. Last week the company ended its anniversary season with a four-week engagement at Manhattan's New York State Theater that broke all box-office records in U.S. ballet history. But even as the final curtain rang down, accompanied by the now familiar sound of bravos, ABT faced a most uncertain future.

The main problem is the lack of a permanent home. Although universally recognized as one of the two finest classical dance companies in the U.S.--the other being the State Theater's resident New York City Ballet--the company has always had difficulty finding an auditorium to serve as home base. When and if the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington is completed (possibly by the end of 1971), ABT is due to become its resident dance ensemble. The designation, however, may be a token one. Already strapped for funds, the Center's sponsors are reluctant to offer a direct challenge to Washington's own sprightly National Ballet--at least not until capital audiences show a stronger appetite for ballet than they have thus far.

Promise Fulfilled. All the financial uncertainty has not affected the quality of the company's work. Indeed, its present condition is a remarkable fulfillment of its initial promise. Organized in 1940 as Ballet Theatre ("American" was added in 1956), the company prospered from the start; one reason was that with Europe at war, New York had become the refuge of a staggering array of imported talent. Backed by the millions of Philanthropist and sometime Dancer Lucia Chase, Founding Director Richard Pleasant was able to put together an opening season with a roster that read like a Who's Who of the dance world. Michel Fokine, Anton Dolin and Antony Tudor were among the choreographers; Dolin, Dimitri Romanoff, Adolph Bolm and Nina Stroganova were among the principal dancers. This illustrious list of European dance talent was studded with some new American names like Jerome Robbins and Nora Kaye, both members of the first-year corps de ballet, and Choreographers Agnes de Mille and Eugene Loring.

From this mixture of Old World outlook and New World recruits arose the quality that most distinguishes the ABT today: a meaningful eclecticism. From the start, the great European classics were produced with a breezy American iconoclasm that seemed to thumb its nose at "ballet" in favor of "theatre." That spirit bubbled to a boil in April 1944, when Robbins performed in his own Fancy Free, the first American dance classic to achieve wide popularity. The company has never been dominated by a single choreographer--as is George Balanchine's New York City Ballet--or a single choreographic outlook.

This emphasis on variety has sometimes given ABT a somewhat directionless look, but it has also led to a programmatic range matched by no other company in the world. The past season's novelties more than justify its faith in eclecticism. There were brilliantly shined-up productions of two ballet favorites (Petrouchka and Gaiete Parisienne); a sassy jazz number called Times Past, created by Broadway's Keith Lee to go with a newly exhumed Cole Porter score; Alvin Ailey's The River, a haunting, exuberant celebration of the life force, with music by Duke Ellington; and two works by Jose Lomon: The Traitor, an allegory of the betrayal of Christ, and The Moor's Pavane, a dance translation of Othello, both of which blend ballet movement with the angular, explosive patterns of modern dance.

Esprit and Discipline. Despite a deplorably high turnover in talent, American Ballet Theatre has the physical resources to succeed in everything it does, from a purist four-act Swan Lake to Grahamesque modernities. The corps has both an esprit and a discipline that is sadly lacking today in the rival New York City Ballet. The soloists are a good match for the great names of yesteryear. The fluid classical grace of Cynthia Gregory or Lupe Serrano, for example, does not suffer by comparison with Alicia Alonso or Alicia Markova. The ineffably fragile Giselle of Carla Fracci, a "permanent guest artist" with the company, ranks among the great dramatic portrayals on any stage; when her favorite partner, Denmark's Erik Bruhn, was forced to miss the Manhattan season because of injuries, the company was able to provide stalwart young alternatives in Ted Kivitt and Ivan Nagy. The work of Toni Lander and Bruce Marks in The Moor's Pavane demonstrated the company's ability to offer not one but two of the great ballet partnerships of the age.

From the ranks of its own dancers, ABT is also getting some of its best new choreography. Dennis Nahat's Brahms Quintet imposes a brilliant, airy set of patterns onto the turgid measures of that composer's G Major String Quintet; the result enhances both the ballet stage and the music itself. Michael Smuin's Pulci-nella Variations evokes memories of Robbins' jaunty, youthful style.

It is a commentary on the state of the American arts that so remarkable a group faces oblivion despite a recent $250,000 gift from the National Endowment for the Arts. As of now, the only New York run next season is a three-week engagement at City Center, where the cramped stage makes much of the current repertory unmountable. Last winter the company instituted a series of "residencies" across the country --one-to three-week stands in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and at the University of Illinois--that combined performances with seminars and lecture-demonstrations. Such experiments are hazardous and basically unreliable; many roofs offer far less shelter than one. The sad truth is that for the foreseeable future, ABT will have to continue its two-faced existence: poverty and glory intertwined.

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