LA FOSSE’S NEW CAREER ROLE

Immediately after the two-week American Ballet Theatre “Nutcracker” engagement in Shrine Auditorium last December, the company made a surprising announcement: Robert La Fosse, a member of Ballet Theatre since 1977 and a principal since 1983, had requested and been granted a release from his contract, citing personal reasons and a desire to pursue other artistic projects.

The news startled many in the dance world, since La Fosse had become increasingly prominent in a wide range of ballets during Mikhail Baryshnikov’s directorship of Ballet Theatre.

For instance, La Fosse was the first-cast Romeo when the company introduced its production of Kenneth MacMillan’s “Romeo and Juliet” in Washington, D.C., and Ballet Theatre even commissioned a short-lived novelty (“Follow the Feet”) that placed La Fosse side-by-side in friendly competition with Baryshnikov.

Like other aspects of Baryshnikov’s administration of the company, La Fosse’s prominence was a source of controversy. Still, his frequent performances and steady progression through the ranks offered no obvious clue to the sudden departure--nor to his surprising emergence in March as a principal in New York City Ballet.

La Fosse insisted that he did not leave one company with the intention of joining the other. “I was just leaving to pursue other things,” he said recently before a rehearsal of Jerome Robbins’ “Dances at a Gathering” in the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

He spoke thoughtfully, often pausing to weigh his words. “It’s very difficult to explain what happens when you’re in a company for a long time, having to go on the road all the time,” he said. “Your personal life is very difficult when you’re a touring dancer. And after a while, as you grow older, you want to be exposed to more than just the confines of a company.”

La Fosse recalled feeling the need for a break during ABT’s autumn rehearsal period, and by November he had made up his mind to leave the company and had spoken to Baryshnikov.

“I had choreographed a pas de deux for the summer tour of Baryshnikov and Co., and that had been a very enlightening experience for me. Choreography is something I want to pursue. I thought at the time I would maybe go off and do some more of that on a smaller level, just to experiment.”

La Fosse thought the demands placed on a Ballet Theatre principal would leave him no time to seek out choreographic opportunities. But he also sensed that people would make incorrect assumptions about his departure.

“I suppose everyone thought I was unhappy at Ballet Theatre,” he said. “But I was very satisfied. There was no lack of roles, and I learned a great deal from Misha (Baryshnikov) and continue to do so.”

Immediately after his final “Nutcracker” performances, he headed for his hometown of Beaumont, Tex., where he choreographed a ballet to Tchaikovsky on the students of his childhood ballet teacher. Joining the New York City Ballet, or any company, was not on his mind then, he said.

At one point he considered taking on the lead dance role in “Song and Dance,” the Broadway musical choreographed by Peter Martins, co-director of New York City Ballet.

“I felt that if I did a show, I would have a lot of time available during the day to experiment with choreography,” he said.

During the “Song and Dance” discussions, Martins made a casual reference to the possibility of La Fosse joining New York City Ballet. But it was not until Robbins, the company’s other ballet master in chief, made overtures that it became a serious possibility. Robbins knew La Fosse well through his performances in many Robbins ballets at Ballet Theatre as well as a touring group the choreographer had led to Spoleto in 1982.

La Fosse says he initially told Robbins: “I can’t do that--leave Ballet Theatre and immediately join City Ballet. I just don’t think it’s something that would look good.”

A month later, Robbins asked La Fosse to reconsider. “I thought, this kind of opportunity doesn’t come along often,” he recalled. “I would be able to stay in New York most of the year (the company has a very light touring schedule). I called Misha about it and explained myself. His response was, ‘Wonderful, that will be very good for you. You’ll fit right in.’ ”

Unlike some dancers that City Ballet has imported in recent years, La Fosse was immediately put to work, appearing in 11 roles during the April-to-June spring season.

Thus far, his repertory has been heavier on Robbins ballets--”Goldberg Variations,” “Gershwin Concerto,” “Interplay” and “Dances at a Gathering”--than on Balanchine, and Robbins created central roles for him in both of the season’s premieres: “Quiet City” and “Piccolo Balletto.”

His Balanchine roles include the Costermonger pas de deux in “Union Jack,” as well as the male leads in “Donizetti Variations,” “Prodigal Son” and “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.” In the last two, he found himself dancing opposite a dancer he greatly admires, Suzanne Farrell. “She’s just magic to dance with,” he said.

La Fosse said the busy pace has suited him. Martins and Robbins know of his choreographic interests and La Fosse may create a work for students at the company-affiliated School of American Ballet. During the late-summer layoff, he will choreograph a work for Finis Jhung’s small touring company, Chamber Ballet U.S.A.

Even at the end of a long stretch of dancing--the three-week Saratoga season immediately followed the spring season in New York--La Fosse sounded genuinely enthusiastic about his new situation.

“The people in this company are still dancing for Balanchine,” he said. “That spirit is still very much around, and it affects everything. Joining this company has been one of my dreams, and being a dancer here is my first priority right now.

“But in my free time, I’m still going to choreograph, because it’s something I cannot let slip by me. Once you get the itch for something like that, you don’t put it aside.”