FIRST OFF . . .

Members of the Bolshoi Ballet say the show must go on even if they have to pirouette in hand-me-downs. Ten crates of costumes and props that were supposed to arrive ahead of the 30 Bolshoi dancers who are opening today in Chicago disappeared in New York in transit, and the company is having to make do with borrowed goods. A search continues for the baggage, sent nine days ahead of time on Aeroflot, the Soviet Union’s state-run airline. “We know the flight took off from Moscow, and we know it landed in the United States,” said Susan Arons, a spokeswoman for Classical Artists International, which is sponsoring “The Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet” tour. “But we have no idea where the crates are.” A second shipment of the ballet company’s essentials has been sent from the Soviet Union and is expected to arrive Friday night or Saturday. In the meantime, dancers will borrow from the Ballet Chicago, the Ruth Page Foundation and the Milwaukee Ballet, which is sending its entire production of “Giselle” to Chicago by bus. “It’s (as) if the White Sox went out onto the field in Cubs, Brewer and Indians uniforms,” Arons said. The dancers are scheduled to give four performances at Chicago’s Civic Opera House. Besides “Giselle,” the program includes excerpts from other classical ballets such as “Swan Lake” and “Sleeping Beauty. Said prima ballerina Natalya Bessmertnova: “The greatest problem is the toe shoes. We are used to our shoes, and they are special shoes. Russian toe shoes are different. Every dancer has a master who makes the shoes by hand to fit perfectly to the foot.”