Ballet of Los Angeles Finally Plays L.A.

As he promised in October, John Clifford will bring his Ballet of Los Angeles to Los Angeles, for the first time, next Sunday. The 3-year-old touring company has been traveling with some regularity across the United States since its founding in 1987--but has never danced in Los Angeles.

In fact, longtime dance observers will note that a Clifford company has not danced in Los Angeles since the final local performances of the now-defunct Los Angeles Ballet (1975-85) in the summer of 1984; the company gave its finale ultimo in San Jose that fall, then formally disbanded the following year.

Clifford said last fall that he hasn’t been avoiding Los Angeles, and would have been here sooner if “there were no deficits involved.”

At USC, Ballet of Los Angeles is presenting itself as part of the company’s spring tour. Two performances will be given in Bing Theater next Sunday at 3 and 8 p.m. The 11-member touring group will give one program twice: Balanchine’s “Apollo,” Clifford’s “Songs of a Wayfarer,” and his new “Rio Bar and Grill,” to music of Milhaud.

The tour dancers: Allegra Kent, Nancy Davis, Leslie Carothers, Antonio Lopez, Courtland Weaver, David MacGillivray. Mandy Bawden, Diane Dickson, Diane Diefenderfer, Sean Carey, and Stuart Loungway. In addition, two New York City Ballet principals, both of them alumni of the old Los Angeles Ballet, will dance here. They are Darci Kistler and Damian Woetzel.

On the phone from his rehearsal studio last week, Clifford specified that Kistler and Woetzel “are not appearing as guest artists, but as alumni (of the former company).”

“I did not put them on these performances because I did not want to exploit them,” Clifford said. “And also so as not to create the impression that this is a company that presents guests.

“I would like Los Angeles to see what we have--also what we had. Many of these dancers are Los Angeles people. I live here, and make it my base for touring. I am really dedicated to Los Angeles, and this is really an L.A. company.”

Clifford, 42, says the troupe’s three years of touring have been successful in that “our tours are strictly no-deficit affairs. When we decide to grow and settle down, we will have to face (the reality of) forming a board of directors and going into the business of fund raising. But so far, just being a traveling company, we have not had to do that.”

Where would he like to settle?

“I want to locate where I’m wanted. But, if Los Angeles doesn’t want this company, there is a lot of interest in Orange County. They certainly want the arts down there.”

SELLARS IN BOSTON: Every time Peter Sellars starts a new project, Angelenos hold their breath. Last weekend Sellars surfaced in Boston to officially announce the formation of a company called Boston Opera Theater. Adding this to his other ventures here and in Europe, one might wonder how the artistic director of the Los Angeles Festival can keep his commitments.

In Boston, Sellars’ answer to this question was unequivocal. “My major commitment is to the L.A. Festival, which is where I live. Here in Boston I am only an adviser.”

Right now, Sellars’ only obligation to Boston Opera Theater is to assist in reviving his trilogy of Mozart/Da Ponte operas over several seasons, starting with “The Marriage of Figaro” in January. After dozens of performances of these works, which originated at the PepsiCo Festival in New York, later in Vienna and Paris, reviving the productions in Boston will require a minimal time commitment, Sellars said.

“These productions, created with a core of artists who make Boston their home, have been in a range of cultural capitals but never in Boston. I am pleased that a cycle of work, begun seven years ago, reaches its conclusion, at last, in our hometown.”

Among Sellars’ projects is his first film. It’s being produced for this year’s L.A. Festival and is titled “The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez.” It is Sellars’ spoof of “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” the silent screen Fritz Lang classic.

“It’s my feature-length silent film in color, with a score by John Adams. It will be great. It’s going to be shot in June,” Sellars said, “on location in New York. Then I edit it in July and August and it premieres in Hollywood Bowl during the Festival with the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing the John Adams score live.”

In 1991, he stages the John Adams opera “Klinghoffer,” based on the story of the American Leon Klinghoffer, who was killed by hijackers on board the Italian liner Achille Lauro.

Another frequent Sellars collaborator--the avant-garde dancer/choreographer Mark Morris--also has a prominent role in “Klinghoffer” as well. The new opera will receive its world premiere in Brussels, then goes to Lyons, Brooklyn, Los Angeles (for the 1991 festival) and then San Francisco.

Sellars also confirmed “what the world already knows” that he will stage Olivier Messiaen’s opera, “St. Francois d’Assise” at the Salzburg Festival in 1992 in collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Pending a formal announcement from Salzburg, Sellars declined further comment. Peter Catalano and David Sweet contributed to this column.