DANCE BEAT : Small Groups Seek Piece of Pie

California dancers are fighting for sweeping changes that would give smaller companies a bigger piece of the pie from the California Arts Council, according to Tom Corcoran, executive director of the San Diego Area Dance Alliance.

“They need another system, since the present one is geared to larger companies and presenters,” he said. “It calls for a first-come, first-served basis, but the big companies plan so far ahead, the smaller ones can never get any of the grants. A large coalition of dance companies and other presenters are actively lobbying for these changes now.

“We also want more California artists to be funded,” Corcoran said, adding that the council “should have some concept that promotes California companies. At many levels, people are frustrated. Why help New Yorkers?”

Gov. George Deukmejian is another target of the California dance community, Corcoran said.

“For years and years, Gov. Deukmejian has reduced the arts council’s budget. If we had stayed with what Gov. Brown had given us, we’d be way ahead of everyone,” he said. “Now we’re only 34th in the country. That’s terrible.”

Kodo was just what the doctor ordered for the San Diego Foundation for the Performing Arts. Not only did the Japanese drummers turn out to be the biggest box-office attraction of the season for the foundation, they gave its fund-raising campaign a giant shot in the arm.

The opening-night gala, which attracted about 225 supporters, brought in $91,000 for the evening, netting the organization $66,000. Even more significant, as president Danah Fayman noted, was the influx of new money.

“The fact that we had several new major underwriters for the gala is indicative, I feel, of the community’s desire to help us in our time of financial need.”

Nonetheless, as Fayman pointed out earlier, filling seats, not just finding sponsors, is the name of the game,

“Raising money is not the problem. We’ve already raised almost $300,000, and that might be enough to assure a new season. But I don’t like all the money to come from contributed income,” she said. “You have to sell tickets, or you shouldn’t be accepting all that money. All we sold for the Batsheva Dance Company was 35%.”

Does that mean the foundation’s future is still in jeopardy?

“No, we’re still working hard, and I’m not pessimistic about the future,” Fayman said. “The foundation did what it had to do by cutting back. We’ll still have David Gordon” in May, “and we’re trying to figure out new things now and where to put them. We’re looking into other venues for next year.”

A contingent of dancers from Three’s Company recently returned from a concert date in Las Vegas, and, according to artistic director Jean Isaacs, everything is coming up roses for the 15-year-old modern dance troupe.

“We had a sold-out house, and we even had to turn away about 100 people when we performed at the university. The Las Vegas Gas & Electric Co. sponsored the concert, and it really went extremely well,” she said.

“We have a lot of good stuff lined up, too,” Isaacs said. During a visit to San Francisco for a concert April 5-8, she and John Malashock will teach a class. “We’ve hired a booking lady (a first for the troupe), and she’s really helping us a lot. And we’re going to New York in May, so things are really working out well for us.”

Kristen Wielandt, a 16-year-old soloist with the American Ballet Ensemble, was spotted by the second company of the Boston Ballet. The young dancer will join the 15-member group during the 1989-90 season when it tours New England on its own and performs in major productions with the Boston Ballet.

Three other ABE students are headed to Boston this summer. Natalie Cook, Christopher MacDougall and Jonathan Chait were accepted into the Boston Ballet’s summer program. Four of the six scholarships offered by the Pennsylvania Ballet summer school were snared by ABE.