Baryshnikov Remodels the A.B.T.

By Martha Duffy

Misha shows that he can take over a company and turn it around

It is a predictable New york cultural rite: a gala fund-raising performance by the American Ballet Theater. The audience, lavishly dressed for the party that will follow, sits through a numbing succession of virtuoso turns: gaudy pas de deux and solo flights by resident stars, international etoiles and great names of the past who walk through famous old roles. Even the curtain calls are a production, usually choreographed more carefully than the rest of the show. The balletgoers finally leave, convinced that they have seen something unique but vowing to themselves "Never again."

A gala at the Metropolitan Opera House last week celebrated the opening of the A.B.T.'s New York season, but it stunned the faithful. Where was the Don Quixote fan dance, the castanets number, the latest Russian, the Japanese ballerina who can hold a pose on point till intermission? Their places were taken by regular members of the company, and fewer than half the top box office names even performed. There were just four dances on the program and no encores. Until Twyla Tharp's roof-raising Push Comes to Shove, the audience seemed in shock. They were learning what the A.B.T. company discovered several months ago: when Mikhail Baryshnikov took over as artistic director, he wanted changes and he meant business.

What he presented to the patrons after an unprecedented 13 weeks of rehearsal last fall and a 17-week national tour was his new star: the corps de ballet. Its members are younger, more attractive, tirelessly drilled. On opening night they danced with unity, grace and fervor. Baryshnikov revived one of the gala ballets, Frederick Ashton's feather-light Les Rendezvous, just to show off the corps. He has high hopes for these girls in white tulle and pink ribbons and their cavaliers.

When Baryshnikov, 33, was named to the post, he spent the year before his appointment took effect studying the troupe he would inherit from Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith, who had guided it for nearly four decades. Misha had danced with the company and knew its strengths--a rich, eclectic repertory, an unbroken record of presenting some of the world's best dancers. He was also aware of some recent flaws. Performance standards had grown erratic, particularly in the corps; management tended to let dancers succeed or drift without much direction. Recalling that year, Baryshnikov says, "I wanted to look at the dancers carefully, clean up the corps. I put all my concentration on what I wanted and how I wanted it." When rehearsals began last September, so did the reassessment of dancers. "There were some little tragedies," admits the director, "but also some nice surprises. At least people know how I feel, how I'm seeing them." The company, at first apprehensive, rallied around Misha when they realized that he was fair. Says Corps Member Robert La Fosse: "Misha gets people off their rear ends. At practice he says, 'Whoever does this step best gets the role.' He means it."

Meaning business meant dealing fairly and sometimes toughly with the principals, the stars whose magnetism sells tickets. Few, if any, expected Baryshnikov to be appointed, and they were vocal in their misgivings about the leadership of a young Russian superstar. But they all stayed on: Natalia Makarova, Cynthia Gregory, Marline van Hamel, Marianna Tcherkassky, Fernando Bujones, Anthony Dowell. To them Misha's great gift is secure performance schedules, which have replaced last-minute fly-ins and broken promises of big evenings.

But the new impartiality helped bring on the much publicized sacking of Gelsey Kirkland. Last December, when Baryshnikov led his newly reshuffled troupe to Washington, D.C., for its first engagement, Kirkland, 28, along with her frequent partner Patrick Bissell, 23, did not show up for mandatory rehearsals. When they finally arrived they were fired for "professional misconduct." A ballerina of unusual imagination, and recklessness, Kirkland is also Misha's most exciting partner. But her temperament, too, is mercurial, and she has suffered from emotional problems in the past. She spent the winter giving concert performances, often with Bissell, and once failed to go on at the last moment. After several long talks, A.B.T. took back the pair three weeks ago, and Baryshnikov announced that he was satisfied they were making progress on the problems that caused their dismissal. Right now the hottest ticket in town is for May 2, Gelsey's first Giselle since her return, with Misha. The stormy partnership goes on.

On that opening night back in Washington, Kirkland's place was taken by Susan Jaffe, a corps member who was then just 18. Jaffe has an exceptional natural facility as a dancer and an exotic, sexy quality. She was hailed as a Cinderella, but if that is so, then A.B.T.'s lineup is full of them. In the next weeks, Cheryl Yeager, 23, took on several lead roles. Small, with a light, high jump, she is a sprite to Jaffe's vamp. Among the male dancers, Peter Fonseca, 23, shows a bounding attack as the Boy in Green in Les Patineurs. Perhaps Baryshnikov's most daring casting is the choice of La Fosse, 21, in Prodigal Son, a role closely associated with Edward Villella and later Baryshnikov. Both men rage explosively through the ballet. La Fosse is boyish, vulnerable--and completely convincing. Last week at the Met, La Fosse and Cynthia Gregory, as the deadly Siren, gave a boldly sexual and riveting performance.

The young dancers (more all the time) are being pushed hard. It is a new direction for a company used to a seniority system. Baryshnikov is almost grimly earnest about his reasons for starting fresh. Says he: "In the corps I try to measure the span of inspiration and dedication. I am angry at dancers who give just what is in the contract. They are not part of the theater, not attuned to its spirit. I look into their eyes, and there is nothing there. I like to perform and share--100%, that's my standard. Give to the choreographer the maximum!"

Baryshnikov's own actions match his words. He oversees virtually all stage rehearsals, coaching and encouraging. The troops respond. Says Ronald Perry, 26, who joined the company from the Dance Theater of Harlem: "Put it this way. If this were the country, Misha would be President and all the rest of us would be Cabinet members."

If his first goal is better classical dancing, Baryshnikov's second is better mime and "character dances." These usually appear in full-length works like Petipa's Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. Though they are often polonaises or czardas, they are not folk dances but theatrical steps that must be performed with panache. It is a European style that Americans must learn. Explains Baryshnikov: "Classical dancing means moving through the rules and trying to extend them a little. In character dancing you don't stop until someone says, 'That's bad taste.' It's show biz."

Character dances are not the only thing he has revised in the classics. Baryshnikov has in effect re-edited Giselle. More controversial is his staging of Swan Lake, a project that he considers "in transition." But he has already made major changes in the romantic second act and, of course, pepped up the character dancing.

When time and money permit, Baryshnikov wants an entirely new production of Swan Lake. But that is for the future. If his first season as director has been conservative, Baryshnikov has given hints about where he will be going. Paul Taylor's Airs was a hit at the Met last week, and it seems likely that A.B.T. will try more works from this modern choreographer. Next season there will be several new one-act ballets; one or more may come from the company's Choreographic Workshop, which has commissioned ballets from six promising choreographers. Says Baryshnikov: "Sooner or later some choreographer should find a permanent place in this company."

As the programs continued last week, audiences seemed to be responding well to Baryshnikov's changes: the new faces, the precision of the corps, the buoyancy of Airs, the lighter, faster approach to that sentiment-drenched standby, Les Sylphides. The director himself was dancing brilliantly.

In his seven years in the U.S., Baryshnikov has not only conquered the ballet world, but made a hit film, The Turning Point, and dabbled in television. For a man who admits that he is restless, is A.B.T. enough? For now, yes. "In the future I will do TV or a movie," he says, "but at the moment I can't afford it. I am redoing old ballets, and I am involved with new ones. I don't know yet how much time I can spend on my own creative life, how much on the company's. The daily routine is satisfying because I see progress. If something works, you are getting enough reward."

--By MarthaDuffy

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