Homecoming

When Choreographer George Balanchine returns to his homeland, it is partly an occasion for renewing old acquaintances, but mostly for acquainting old friends with his new works. Ten years ago, in his only previous visit to the U.S.S.R. in half a century, Balanchine and the members of his New York City Ballet sent shock waves of excitement through the Soviet dance world. Now they were back for a five-week tour of Kiev, Leningrad, Tbilisi, Moscow, Lodz and Warsaw. Everywhere the S.R.O. sign was out.

As expected, Balanchine made virtually no concessions to accepted Russian dance taste, which has been shaped by the 19th century-oriented Bolshoi and Kirov companies. Indeed, he offered some of the company's most abstract works, like his Violin Concerto (set to Stravinsky) and Jerome Robbins' Goldberg Variations (Bach), dances that eschew decor, spectacle and story line in favor of balanced and unbalanced compositions that are mod, sexy and athletic. The results were varied. The Georgians in their sunny Italianate capital, Tbilisi, responded more enthusiastically to those works than ballet-goers in Kiev and Leningrad. But more traditional Balanchine ballets like Symphony in C (Bizet) caught on at every stop. Balanchine's Who Cares? (Gershwin) was a steady crowd pleaser, though in Tbilisi and Moscow a stomach bug swept the company's ranks, forced last-minute cast changes, and prompted one dancer to dub the work Who's Left?

Even the ragged corps work did not bother the Tbilisians, who were out to welcome their second most famous native son (after Stalin). Though born in Leningrad (in 1904), Balanchine comes from Georgian stock. Among those on hand to greet him was his brother Andrei Balanchivadze, 66, a prominent if somewhat outdated composer, a three-year-old grandnephew, also named Andrei, and scores of other Georgians claiming kinship and free tickets.

Back in Moscow at week's end, an exuberant Balanchine was discussing the Bolshoi's request that he "give" them several of his ballets, most especially Symphony in C. That would mean, among other things, his returning in the near future to polish the productions himself. "Maybe when Nixon and Brezhnev next meet, they should discuss my coming back," he said with obvious relish and a great flourish of a glass of Mukuzani wine.

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