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CITY CENTER JOFFREY BALLET. From half a dozen dancers practicing in a former chocolate factory, the Jeffrey has grown into a troupe of 43. In 1967, Choreographer Robert Jeffrey created Astarte, the first multimedia ballet. But it was Associate Director Gerald Arpino's Trinity (1970), a contemporary barn dance set to the throbbing sounds of a rock band, that roused a Leningrad audience to 36 curtain calls and a 27-minute ovation during last fall's Russian tour. Summer activities include a West Coast tour in June.
DANCE THEATER OF HARLEM.
"Why shouldn't a black be a ballet dancer?" No reason why not, said former City Ballet Member Arthur Mitchell, the first black artist to become a principal dancer in a major ballet company. In 1969, Mitchell and Dance Pedagogue Karel Shook started the only black classical company in the U.S. Today they preside over a school of 1,000 and an exuberant troupe of 27. Chicagoans will have the chance to see stylish, unaffected dancers next week.
ALWYN NIKOLAIS' DANCE THEATER. Alwyn Nikolais' choreography stresses sculpture, light and color with effects that can be droll or sinister. Costumes, light projections and electronic music are all his own creations. The ten-member troupe performs in New York in late June.
OTHER U.S. DANCE COMPANIES. The dance explosion is not confined to New York. Ten years ago there were two professional dance companies outside of Manhattan with budgets exceeding $100,000. Last year there were 20. Bustling activity in other U.S. companies, like the San Francisco Ballet, reflects the new enthusiasm for dance. There is wit behind the footwork of San Francisco's Alexander Filipov, who is yet another Kirov-trained dancer. Dramatic range, nervy dancing and a varied repertory —Giselle, Merce Cunningham's Winterbranch—place the Boston Ballet high on the list. Small wonder that subscriptions nearly tripled last year. The most important company outside of New York, however, is the Pennsylvania Ballet. The women are lithe; the ensemble work is solid. The clear, precisely articulated style of Principal Lawrence Rhodes (who moonlights with Eliot Feld's company in New York) marks him as one of ballet's leading male dancers. In June the Pennsylvania Ballet will appear at the Blossom Center Music Festival in Ohio.
Visiting Troupes from Abroad:
BOLSHOI BALLET. The key to the enduring Bolshoi mystique is its magnitude: the colossal technical prowess of its dancers, their grandeur of emotion, the elaborate theatrical productions. Alas, on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera the gallant dancers often sag beneath the weighty spectacle of the frantic choreography of Director Yuri Grigorovich. Yet Giselle, the company's corner stone, abounds in fresh lyrical dancing and finely drawn characterizations. Radiant young Ludmila Semenyaka and Vyacheslav Gordeyev, a powerful classical dancer, should win fans during the Bolshoi's nine-city national tour.