End Nears for Dance Drought : Ballet: Beginning Tuesday, the Bolshoi will be at the Shrine while the Australian Ballet makes its first appearance in the Southland since 1971.

Local balletomanes have endured a pointe-less summer since the Joffrey departed at the end of May. But all that changes on Tuesday, when two major classical ensembles open Southern California engagements: the Australian Ballet at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa and the Bolshoi Ballet at Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles. Each has announced its casting.

Last seen locally in 1971, the Melbourne-based Australian Ballet is bringing two programs of Franco-Russian repertory staples: the two-act “Giselle,” Serge Lifar’s ensemble showpiece “Suite en blanc” and David Lichine’s caractere romp, “Graduation Ball.” For modernist contrast, there’s also Jiri Kylian’s intense “Return to the Strange Land” and the West Coast premiere of “Catalyst” by company member Stephen Baynes.

Back after a three-year absence, the Moscow-based Bolshoi will dance the local premiere of Yuri Grigorovich’s full-length historical epic “Ivan the Terrible,” as well as two more familiar Grigorovich works and a program of Bolshoi highlights.

Bolshoi principals include a number of artists prominently cast in 1987--most notably Ludmila Semenyaka, Alexei Fadeyechev, Nina Ananiashvili and Yuri Vasyuchenko. In addition, Gediminas Taranda (absent in 1987 but pictured on that tour’s posters and souvenir programs) and Los Angeles’ own Michael Shannon are scheduled to dance during the engagement--but not Irek Mukhamedov, who recently joined England’s Royal Ballet.

Major casting for both engagements is listed below. Performances are at 8 p.m., except as indicated.

Bolshoi Ballet casting

Tuesday: “Ivan the Terrible” (Grigorovich/Prokofiev): Alexander Vetrov (Ivan), Alla Mikhalchenko (Anastasia) and Gediminas Taranda (Prince Kurbsky).

Aug. 8: “Ivan the Terrible”: Yuri Vasyuchenko, Ludmila Semenyaka and Mark Peretokin.

Aug. 9: “Ivan the Terrible”: Alexei Fadeyechev, Maria Bilova and Taranda.

Aug. 10: “Romeo and Juliet” (Grigorovich/Prokofiev): Nina Ananiashvili (Juliet), Vasyuchenko (Romeo), Peretokin (Tybalt) and Alexander Petukhov (Mercutio).

Aug. 11 at 2 p.m.: “Romeo and Juliet”: Semenyaka, Yuri Posokhov, Vetrov and Mikhail Sharkov.

Aug. 11 evening: “Romeo and Juliet”: same cast as Aug. 10.

Aug. 12 at 2 p.m.: “Romeo and Juliet”: same cast as Aug. 11 matinee.

Aug. 14: “Swan Lake” (Grigorovich/Tchaikovsky): Semenyaka (Swan Queen) and Fadeyechev (Prince).

Aug. 15: “Swan Lake”: Mikhalchenko and Vetrov.

Aug. 16: “Swan Lake”: Ananiashvili and Fadeyechev.

Aug. 17: “Swan Lake”: Nina Semizorova and Peretokin.

Aug. 18, 2 p.m.: Highlights program, including a complete “Petrushka” (with Yuri Klevtsov, Natalia Arkhipova and Petukhov), and excerpts from “Spartacus,” “Swan Lake,” “Legend of Love,” “Le Corsaire,” “The Golden Age,” “Don Quixote” and “Paquita.”

Aug. 18, evening: Highlights program, including “Petrushka” (with Sharkov, Bilova and Andrei Melanyin), plus excerpts from, among other ballets, “La Sylphide,” “Flower Festival at Genzano” and “Paquita.”

Aug. 19, 3 p.m.: same casting and repertory as Aug. 18 matinee.

Ballet casting

Tuesday: “Catalyst” (Baynes/Poulenc): Lisa Pavane, Roy Wilson, Robert Marshall, Jayne Beddoe, Paula Baird, Greg Horsman. “Giselle” (Petipa after Perrot and Coralli/Adam): Pavane (Giselle), Horsman (Albrecht), TBA (Myrta).

Aug. 8: “Catalyst”: Pavane, Wilson, Marshall, Miranda Coney, Rebecca Yates, Horsman. “Giselle”: Fiona Tonkin, Steven Heathcote, Beddoe.

Aug. 9: “Catalyst”: Same cast as Aug. 7. “Giselle”: Anna de Cardi, David McAllister, Michele Goullet.

Aug. 10: “Catalyst”: Same cast as Aug. 7. “Giselle”: Coney, David Ashmole, TBA.

Aug. 11 at 2 p.m.: “Suite en Blanc” (Lifar/Lalo): Ensemble. “Return to the Strange Land” (Kylian/Janacek): Pavane, Horsman, McAllister, Ulrike Lytton, Heathcote, Wilson. “Graduation Ball” (Lichine/Strauss, arr. Dorati): Stephen Morgante (Headmistress), Justine Miles (Junior Girl), Ashmole (Leading Junior Cadet), Colin Peasley (General).

Aug. 11, evening: “Suite en Blanc”: Ensemble. “Return to the Strange Land”: Same cast as Aug 11. “Graduation Ball”: Peasley, Wilson, Elizabeth Toohey, McAllister.

Aug. 12 at 2 p.m.: “Suite en Blanc”: Ensemble. “Return to the Strange Land”: Same cast as Aug 11. “Graduation Ball”: Michael Curry, Baynes, Toohey, Greg Horsman.