Joffrey Board Considers Fate of Arpino Ballets : Ballet: The board’s decision may determine whether any of the former artistic director’s works will be performed during the balance of season.

The Joffrey Ballet board is meeting today to consider its ongoing dispute with former artistic director Gerald Arpino and the fate of ballets he created while an employee of the company.

“The ball’s in their court,” said Arpino’s attorney, Harold Messing. He expects the board to act on proposals which he has made to resolve the situation.

“We are discussing ways to accommodate Mr. Arpino,” he said. “We’re waiting to see what they can offer him.”

Arpino resigned on the eve of the company’s season opening at the Music Center last week, after a controversial restructuring of the Joffrey board.

With Arpino went a sizable chunk of the Joffrey repertory. Last week, Messing informed the company that choreographies by Arpino and deceased company founder Robert Joffrey belong to Arpino and/or the estate of Joffrey, and that their unauthorized use would constitute copyright infringement.

Messing said negotiations between him and the company have stopped. While negotiations were in process, Messing had given the company permission to use Arpino’s works, but now that negotiations have halted that permission has been withdrawn.

The company has not conceded Arpino’s ownership of the works that he created while artistic director, but withdrew Arpino works scheduled Sunday, Tuesday and tonight, replacing them with other repertory from the current season. The next scheduled performance of some of the disputed repertory is Sunday evening.

The board’s actions could determine whether any Arpino works will be performed during the balance of the company’s season in Los Angeles through May 27, and perhaps whether the company will ever again perform works by its co-founder, whose oeuvre has come to define the company even more so than the work of the company’s namesake.

Among the most immediately affected by today’s meeting are the dancers themselves, who have in recent days had to adjust to the program changes, while also considering the long-term future of the company itself.

JOFFREY BALLET WORKS IN QUESTION

The Joffrey Ballet is negotiating with former artistic director Gerald Arpino over the company’s continued performance of his works and/or those of the estate of Robert Joffrey. According to Arpino’s laywer, the Joffrey Ballet is prohibited from performing the specific works below, among others:

Current Title Choreographer Season Description L’Air d’Esprit Arpino Yes A classical pas de deux created (1978) in tribute to the great Russian ballerina, Olga Spessivtseva. Italian Suite Arpino Yes Dappled light, falling rose (1983) petals and group dances inspired by Arpino’s first trip to Italy. Round of Angels Arpino Yes A group dance-elegy, full of (1983) wing-like soaring, choreographed in tribute to an AIDS victim. Sea Shadow (1962) Arpino Yes A moody, stylized pas de deux unified by water imagery. Suite Saint-Saens Arpino Yes An exuberant, full-company (1978) classical showpiece--the company’s signature work until the late ‘80s. Trinity Arpino Yes A rock ballet celebrating (1971) American youth--the company’s signature work until the late ‘70s. TWO-A-DAY Arpino and Yes An opulent tribute to the (1989) Louis Johnson vaudeville era with pastiche specialty numbers.

Table compiled by Deborah Sakamoto and Lewis Segal