BALANCHINE AT SHRINE : BALLET THEATRE OFFERS ‘STRAVINSKY CONCERTO’

At last. A genuinely compelling offering by American Ballet Theatre at Shrine Auditorium.

Thank goodness. Thank Balanchine. Thank Stravinsky.

After a week of generally somnolent performances of the new and often tacky “Sleeping Beauty” production, Mikhail Baryshnikov’s company, minus Baryshnikov, turned Tuesday to an eclectic mixed bill. We now learn, not incidentally, that Baryshnikov plans to dance here only twice this season: in “Giselle” on March 21 (matinee) and March 22 (evening).

The news on this occasion did not involve a specific dancer, though the dancing--apart from a sometimes ragged corps--ranged from competent to excellent. The news involved a marvelous, company-stretching challenge that closed the generally uninspired program: “Stravinsky Violin Concerto.”

Created in New York for Balanchine’s Stravinsky Festival in 1972, it had entered the Ballet Theatre repertory in Miami earlier this year. At this point, the ballet may be better for the company than the company is for the ballet.

The talented and ever-diligent ABT dancers have not enjoyed profound indoctrination in Balanchine’s special, musically inspired fusion of the balletic and the gymnastic impulse. They have not quite mastered the lyrical delineation of the sharp attack, the air of nonchalance that should mask inner urgency, the essentially subtle but precise projection of abstract drama.

Clearly, however, they are on the right track. The performance on Tuesday, illuminated by flashes of cool, provocative brilliance, offered a reassuring demonstration of pride and promise.

Karin von Aroldingen, for whom Balanchine designed the primary ballerina role 15 years ago, has staged this version with obvious sympathy, with a patrician sense of style and with fidelity modified by practicality.

She must know that the current Aria I ballerina, Leslie Browne, is not as strong or as formidable as Aroldingen herself was. Conversely, she must understand that Susan Jaffe, the new Aria II protagonist, lacks the fragile, vulnerable qualities of the illustrious City Ballet model, Kay Mazzo.

The ABT casting choices did make the basic dynamic contrasts a bit fuzzy. On Tuesday, moreover, there was a tendency to confuse a blank statement with a muted statement. Still, one could savor the heightened stress on expressive unity, not to mention the fluidity of unrelated motion and a disarming air of innocence.

Even Balanchine, it should be remembered, altered his choreographic focus to accommodate new dancers in old roles.

The ABT production respects the basic symmetry, the angular convolutions and the structural parallels of the original. The segregated corps of 16 danced with the taut energy and discipline it lacked in the florid challenges of “Paquita,” which opened the vaudeville.

Partnered with great, self-effacing flair by Ricardo Bustamante (remember the name), Browne mustered the aggressive contortions of the first pas de deux with reasonably intense bravado. Masterfully dominated by Patrick Bissell, Jaffe managed the graceful quirks of the second pas de deux with reasonable finesse.

Stewart Kershaw tended appreciatively to Stravinsky in the pit, where the violin solo--played with vitality by Kenneth Yerke--fell victim to amplification.

With a piece de resistance of such force, everything else on the program seemed like polite throat clearing. The tired but pretty inanities of “Paquita” were dominated by the elegant if not exactly exuberant Martine van Hamel and the ever-noble Kevin McKenzie. Most arresting among the dutiful quartet of secondary would-be ballerinas was a willowy newcomer named Christine Dunham.

The dainty glitz of the “Sylvia” pas de deux (familiar choreography no longer credited to Balanchine) found the properly wispy Cheryl Yeager partnered by the flamboyant but untidy Julio Bocca. The program credits, incidentally, called him Julia .

Tudor’s “Pillar of Fire” looks more like a museum piece in need of respectful restoration--or rethinking--with each revival. On this cautious occasion, the central agonies of Hagar were entrusted to Kathleen Moore--a tall, serious, authoritative dancer from the corps who has yet to plumb the dramatic and psychological depths of the character.

Her associates included Amanda McKerrow, well cast as the flitty ingenue; Michael Owen, bland even beyond the norm as the resident Good Guy, and Ethan Brown, correct rather than magnetic as the Bad Guy.

Jack Everly led the better-than-average orchestra deftly through Schoenberg’s “Verklaerte Nacht,” without paying much attention to the inherent theatrical stimuli.

The enthusiastic audience in the 6,600-seat house numbered less than 2,000 and, according to a reliable source, included nearly 800 non-paying customers.