A Bittersweet Bow for the Ballet

The opening of the Joffrey Ballet LA/NY at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center was bittersweet.

The bitter was that artistic director Gerald Arpino had resigned after Monday and Tuesday meetings when the board voted 31 to 9 to place authority to manage the company in an up-to-15 member operating committee.

The sweet was that the ballet company, performing Arpino’s Los Angeles premiere of “Two-A-Day” and his choreography of “Italian Suite,” was wildly applauded and hailed in dozens of floral bouquets thrown to the stage at the finale.

Everywhere board members were whispering, exchanging comments, wondering if Arpino (whose resignation has not been accepted by the board) would show. He was supposed to be registered at the Biltmore. Said assistant artistic director Scott Barnard: “I think before the evening is over, he will be here; I bet if you crawled into the entrails upstairs, you would have found him tonight.”

Board member Patricia Kennedy Sheinbaum, wearing a stunning lace Givenchy and a feather in her blond upsweep, wouldn’t say how she voted, but she said of the performance, “This is his genius; he’s in my heart every moment tonight. I think something very positive will come from all this. All negotiations take a little time.”

Patrons flocked to The Founders during an intermission, some talking about the Joffrey’s $1.8 million approximate debt. Minglers included Music Center president Esther Wachtell and her husband Tom. David Murdock, founding chairman of the Los Angeles directors, was in Asia and missed the evening.

At the post-ballet sit-down dinner, Marjorie Volk, party chairman and a devoted board member, sat between banker husband Harry, and her former TV husband Danny Thomas (“Make Room for Daddy”). She took the microphone, standing before the multi--member Les Brown Band and told the svelte crowd, “Thank you loyal patrons. I fell in love with this company 20 years ago. I want to thank our wonderful dancers for being so marvelous.” Then, she asked company dancers to step to the dance floor, and the audience watched their version of ballroom contemporary to “Anything Goes.” Commented one, “They’re more graceful than you and I.”

During intermission board members Tim and Terri Childs, sitting in the front row of The Founders across from Stuart and Carrie Ketchum, reminisced that the Joffrey was started on the back of a station wagon in 1956. Said Terri, “And you know how it is in the arts; there are good years and there are bad.”

Board member Noelle Siart, on the arm of Larry Levin, talked of the “big bucks” influence of Murdock and the board’s “TelePromter meetings.” Lynn Bruegel said that husband Doug had notified her of the party that day by FAX. And, in whirl-a-world, at least one of the New York members on the new committee--attorney Joseph Wender--attended, sitting at the right arm of Nancy Davis, West Coast manager of the ballet, pristine in long white satin. Ron Arnault, who has appeared with Davis at social occasions and is financial vice president of the Music Center board of governors and instrumental in negotiations, was not there.

At the same table, Frank Lynch (with wife Marilyn) of Corona Del Mar (he’s vice chairman of the Joffrey Ballet and key to negotiations), commented: “Those kids really put it out. I really feel hopeful. His (Arpino’s) artistry is wonderful and we have to keep it all glued together.”

Nearby, Irina Nijinska, who stages “Les Noces” for the Ballet tonight and Sunday evening and her daughter Natalie Raetz were close to Alison Winter (president of Northern Trust of California) and attorney Brad Brian, both members of the new executive committee. Said Mrs. Winter, “The goal is to keep the Joffrey dancing at the Music Center. . . . We would like (Arpino) as choreographer.” She added: “A shortage of money causes strains.”

Through it all, the band played on--”What a Wonderful World.”

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