BARYSHNIKOV BOWS OUT OF S.D.

Mikhail Baryshnikov will not be performing in San Diego after all, it was announced Thursday by local promoters Fahn and Silva Presents. The ballet superstar had been slated to bring his solo tour to the Open Air Theatre of San Diego State University July 4, but a scheduling conflict between Fahn and Silva and the San Diego Arts Foundation has caused the date to be scrubbed.

The problem stemmed from the fact that the American Ballet Theatre, which Baryshnikov directs, is slated to appear next year in San Diego, presented by the Arts Foundation. Baryshnikov’s agreement with the American Ballet Theatre gives the Arts Foundation the option to forbid the booking of his solo tour into any city in which the Ballet Theatre is also scheduled to perform.

But the Arts Foundation’s main concern had been that Baryshnikov’s July 4 appearance here would interfere with ticket sales for the engagement of the Joffrey Ballet, which the Arts Foundation has scheduled for the same week. A plan to sell tickets to both the Baryshnikov and Joffrey dates as a package deal was rejected by Baryshnikov’s management, and the July 4 date was then canceled.

“We would have been happy to sell the Baryshnikov date as part of a Joffrey package with the Arts Foundation,” said promoter Bill Silva. “But Baryshnikov didn’t want to be sold as part of anything else--understandably--and that was the only way the Arts Foundation would permit the date. We were terribly excited about bringing this world-class event to San Diego, so we walk away from this with disappointment.”

At present, there is no other Southern California appearance slated for the Baryshnikov solo tour.