Kirov Adds Balanchine to Its Orange County Schedule

In a surprise move, the Kirov Ballet has added Balanchine’s “Theme and Variations” to one of its three mixed-repertory programs during the company’s nine-day engagement beginning Aug. 18 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

“Theme and Variations” will be danced Aug. 25, replacing the originally announced “Paquita” grand pas de deux, the company announced Wednesday.

The remaining two mixed repertory programs will be the same as announced and will include “Chopiniana,” “Paquita” and other works. The Kirov’s original program for the company’s only Southern California stop included neither of the two Balanchine works (“Scotch Symphony,” along with “Theme and Variations”) that the company performed in New York and Washington. The recent addition of Balanchine ballets to the Kirov repertory in the wake of glasnost has made dance history because the master choreographer has been out of favor in the Soviet Union since he left his homeland in 1924.

Center president Thomas R. Kendrick refused to characterize the change in programming as a “turnaround.” He said only that some “technical difficulties” had somehow been worked out in the time since the company opened its four-city U.S. tour in New York on July 3.

“Now, we’re delighted we can work out the rehearsal and technical difficulties of adding this to a non-subscription program,” he said. “Obviously, the Kirov performing Balanchine is a moment in history . . . .”

As to why “Theme” was chosen instead of the full Balanchine program, Kendrick said: “It’s going to be very difficult as it is to make these changes within the three programs.”

Kendrick said that Kirov artistic director Oleg Vinogradov concurred in the choice of “Theme.”

Balanchine created “Theme and Variations” (music by Tchaikovsky) in 1947 for American Ballet Theatre in New York as a homage to the classicism of Petipa. Indeed, New Yorker dance critic Arlene Croce recently described the work as a “fantasy on (Petipa’s) ‘Sleeping Beauty.’ ”

A staple of the ABT repertory, “Theme” was last seen at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1987.

The Kirov first ventured into Balanchine territory in Leningrad in April when the Balanchine Trust sent Francia Russell, artistic co-director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Suzanne Farrell, the eminent Balanchine ballerina, to stage “Theme” and “Scotch Symphony” for the company.