A NIGHT FOR FANS: HOLLYWOOD HYPE, GLAMOUR OF BALLET : KIROV DANCE BUFFS CONGREGATE FOR WORSHIPING AT THE SHRINE

“You’ll know which bouquets are mine,” boasted Dwight Grell. “They’re the ones with the pale-blue streamers--the Kirov colors. Not those cheap ones that land in the pit.”

Dressed in a snappy tux and sporting a Bolshoi bicentennial pin, Grell stood in front of Shrine Auditorium on Thursday, gearing up for his second “Swan Lake” by the Kirov Ballet. He is one of a special, and elite, breed of balletomanes.

Fans of Russian ballet are not like normal dance buffs. They know every multisyllabic name of every Soviet dancer. They think nothing of flying across the country or around the world to quench their thirst for anything by the Bolshoi or the Kirov. And after the final curtain has fallen and the final bouquet thrown, they will often gather at the stage door, waiting patiently for a glimpse or perhaps a few words of greeting with a departing dancer.

In the last 30 years, Grell, a Los Angeles resident who has worked as a button factory production manager, has visited the Soviet Union six times, attending numerous performances and gathering material for his film archives on the Kirov and the Bolshoi. It is more than a hobby, he said. “I’ve formed a corporation--Ballet Art of the Bolshoi Inc.”

He is equally serious about the fine art of flower hurling.

Flowers, said Grell, “are a visual representation of this.” He mimes applause. “I make the bouquets myself. There’s actually quite a technique to it.” And to the art of throwing, as well: “You must wait until just that moment when the principal dancers come together.

“Jack Nicholson once complimented me on my style. He called me ‘Lefty.’ ”

On opening night, Wednesday, Grell pitched four or five bouquets. “I leave them in my car until the second intermission.”

The real challenge, he said, will be at the galas--the three-part programs on Sunday and Monday, which will require floral tributes after each ballet.

“I’ll probably just lug in a huge box,” he said.

To ease his curtain-call chores, Grell and fellow Russian balletomane Judy Rogg managed to acquire front-row seats for nearly every performance.

“You know what we should do for the final ‘Swan Lake’?” Rogg suggested in all seriousness. “Throw 32 bouquets.” That’s one for each member of the corps de ballet .”

Alex Stetson had flown to Los Angeles from Florida to see not just the Kirov but one dancer in particular--Galina Mezentseva, the opening night Odette/Odile. “She is my favorite of all time,” he said with a sigh. “Her upper body is so expressive. I had met her when I was in Leningrad and I spoke to her on the phone here briefly.” Stetson was recovering from opening night at the home of his friend, Judy Rogg (“We’re a very tight family,” she said).

“All I wanted to do was talk to Mezentseva afterward about watching her take class,” he said of his post-performance stage-door vigil. “There must have been 50 or so of us. When she walked out, we all rushed toward her. Then this guy pushed me away and some men grabbed her and rushed off with her. She had no idea what was happening. I think they were security people.”

A spokesman for the company later confirmed Stetson’s theory.

That opening-night incident may be one of the few times security personnel will be visible. At least that’s the intention of security chief Bob Tullipan.

“We don’t want America to seem like a police state to the Kirov,” he said from his suite at the downtown Hilton, where the company has taken residence. “We want them to feel at home, to have a positive image of their visit.”

Tullipan was tight-lipped about security details: He would give no information on the number of personnel, whether the Soviet government has sent KGB agents with the company (“I can only make assumptions”) or what sort of protection or assistance the U.S. government has provided.

Nor would he discuss the possibility of a defection: “We’ll deal with it when it happens.

“I hope there won’t be any. The dancers all seem very happy. We’re told they live good lives in Russia.”

And the center of all this attention? What about the dancers when they’re not dancing? According to Stephen Adler, North American tour director for the Kirov, life on the road is not much different from what it is for an average rock band. While here, the company will have but two free days for sightseeing. Guess the destinations. Right. Universal Studios (“They call it ‘Hollywood,’ ” Adler said) and Disneyland.

Admission, Adler said, will be paid by the sponsoring Ambassador Foundation--quite a contrast to the snub the company received from the hosts at Expo 86 in Vancouver earlier this month, when dancers were denied free entry to the fair.

Other than the two standard tourist stops, Kirov members will spend most of their free time at the hotel, Adler said. “They’re not confined. They really don’t have time to go on shopping sprees and such. If they’re not performing, they’re in class each morning at the Shrine.”

Or escaping from overzealous fans.