Performing Arts Center to Offer Modern Dance Programs : New season: The appearance by the Martha Graham Dance Company of New York will be a first for the Center, which is exploring the extent of interest here in the genre.

In a departure from its past emphasis on ballet, the Orange County Performing Arts Center will for the first time present a modern dance troupe, Center officials said Monday in announcing their 1990-91 dance season.

The Martha Graham Dance Company of New York will make its only Southern California appearances Jan. 4-6, 1991, at the Center. The Graham company programs will be offered in addition to a subscription package of three ballet companies that includes the previously reported engagements of the Australian Ballet Aug. 7-12; and the New York City Ballet, Sept. 25-30, 1990, in its first return engagement at the Center since 1986. Rounding out the season will be the fifth appearance at to the Center by the American Ballet Theatre, March 12-24, 1991.

The Graham dates represent an experiment for the Center, and they will be offered as an option for ballet subscribers.

“We will find out what interest there is for modern dance” in Orange County, Center President Thomas R. Kendrick said Monday. “If the Graham experience is good, I think there are certain other companies that we might be able to handle” as options for ballet subscribers.

Noticeably absent from the list is the Joffrey Ballet, which has been part of the Center’s ballet series three times over the past three years.

“We have said from the very beginning that we are not committed to any one company on an annual basis,” Kendrick said. “Our goal is to provide a range of companies over a period of time.”

Kendrick said the decision not to bring the Joffrey next season was “absolutely not” related to the collapse of negotiations between ABT and the Los Angeles Music Center Operating Company in December, something that ABT Executive Director Jane Hermann attributed to the Joffrey’s residency at the Music Center. (Officials at the Music Center, however, denied Hermann’s charge.)

“We have had (the Joffrey) several times and anticipate having them again,” he said.

Graham will be represented by two programs of mixed repertory: One will include her classic “Appalachian Spring,” set to Copland’s score, and the other, her “Errand Into the Maze.”

For its exclusive West Coast engagement, the New York Ballet will lean heavily upon repertory by founding artistic director George Balanchine. “La Source,” “Stars and Stripes,” “Four Temperaments” and the infrequently toured “Vienna Waltzes” will be among the works danced.

The run by American Ballet Theatre will be split between mixed repertory (to be announced) and either Natalia Makarova’s staging of “La Bayadere” or a new production of “Coppelia.”

As previously reported, the Australian Ballet will dance “Giselle,” Lichine’s “Graduation Ball,” Lifar’s “Suite en Blanc” and others to be announced by Australian and New Zealand choreographers.

Prices for subscription tickets will range from $57 to $190; they will include four events--one each by the Australian and New York City ballets, and two performances by ABT. Tickets for the Graham programs will be offered as an option for subscribers.

Subscription tickets will go on sale May 20. Tickets for individual programs will go on sale about six weeks before each engagement. Information is available at (714) 556-2787.

The season:

* Aug. 7-12: Australian Ballet: Maina Gielgud’s staging of “Giselle,” “Graduation Ball” (Johann Strauss); Lifar’s “Suite en Blanc” (Lalo); other works to be announced.

* Sept. 25-30: New York City Ballet: Balanchine’s “Vienna Waltzes” (music by Lehar, Johann and Richard Strauss); “Stars and Stripes” (Sousa), “Four Temperaments” (Hindemith), “Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 3,” “Concerto Barocco” (Bach); “La Source” (Delibes); “Chaconne” (Gluck); Jerome Robbins’ “Dances at a Gathering” (Chopin); and Peter Martins’ “Ecstatic Orange” (Michael Torke). Other works by Balanchine and Martins are being considered.

* Jan. 4-6: Martha Graham Company: Program 1: “Embattled Garden” (Carlos Surinach); “Deep Song” (Henry Cowell); “Appalachian Spring” (Copland); “Temptations of the Moon” (Bartok). Program 2: “Diversion of Angels” (Dello Joio); “Errand Into the Maze” (Menotti); “El Penitente” (Louis Horst); “Acts of Light” (Nielsen).

* March 12-24: American Ballet Theatre: mixed repertory and either “La Bayadere” or “Coppelia.”