CANADA BALLET : ARTS CENTER NEGOTIATES WITH TROUPE

The Orange County Performing Arts Center and the National Ballet of Canada are holding “serious discussions” toward bringing the Toronto-based company to Costa Mesa in June, 1988, spokesmen for the two organizations said this week.

The company’s Costa Mesa appearances, planned for June 7 to 12, would be part of the company’s first West Coast tour since 1977 and would include its critically acclaimed ballet “Alice,” based on Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland.” “Alice,” choreographed by Glen Tetley, was described as one of last season’s best new ballets by a New York Times dance critic. The company also plans to bring “Eugene Onegin,” choreographed by John Cranko.

At least one dance attraction for the Center’s 1987-1988 season is firmly in place--the Joffrey Ballet is contracted to appear Sept. 21 to 27, 1987, said spokesmen for the company and the center. Repertory for those appearances has not yet been determined, however.

“I can confirm the information on the engagements, but I can not comment on repertory,” said James Feichtmann, the center’s director of special projects. Feichtmann is standing in for Thomas R. Kendrick and Judith O’Dea Morr--the center’s executive director and general manager--who were recently married and are out of the country.

While the Joffrey is a company that continues to have a guiding light in founder Robert Joffrey, the Canadian company is seeking to build upon the quality and stature brought to it by Erik Bruhn, the Danish premier danseur who supervised the company for three years before his death last spring of cancer.

Rudolf Nureyev gave the company artistic guidance in the late 1970s, but then came what company spokesman Gregory Patterson described as a drop in general quality.

“There was something of a slump prior to Erik Bruhn taking the company and turning it around,” said company spokesman Gregory Patterson. Former deputies of Bruhn, Valerie Wilder and Lynn Wallis, with Constantin Patsalas, are currently running the company.

The National Ballet of Canada celebrated its 35th anniversary Wednesday with a gala performance in Toronto. It will begin its first major U.S. tour in a decade on March 13, stopping in Minneapolis and Chicago and then on to Florida for stops in Miami, Clearwater and West Palm Beach before ending in Washington on April 5. The company is also negotiating to include Los Angeles and San Francisco in its 1988 tour.