R.S.V.P. / ORANGE COUNTY

At the Barre

About 100 local balletomanes and arts donors hobnobbed with members of the Australian Ballet on Tuesday after the company’s opening-night show at the Performing Arts Center. The cast-and-patron event, in Birraporetti’s restaurant in South Coast Plaza, was livelier than most--especially when a deejay got to work at 12:30 a.m. and the loose and limber corps scooted from their booths for an hour of unchoreographed dance fever.

Muscular) Elbows

One guest--eyes a-popping--called the dancers “hard bodies.” Another judged them “perfect.” In their skin-tight stage costumes and their baggy street clothes, the Aussies lived up to the robust image we have of them. “They are the most wonderful thing that has ever happened,” said guest Debbie Robbins. “We’re patrons--as in, we go to everything,” said Robbins’ friend, Mirian Spelke. “But this is absolutely our favorite.” George Schreyer, who attended the performance and party with Terry Delgadillo, pronounced the troupe “poetry in motion.” Craig Hannah, an Irvine resident and Australian expatriate, admitted that he was “a little biased” but added, “They’re wonderful, aren’t they?” He needn’t have asked Jim Neuman and Allan Lifson, who spent a day with the company while on vacation in Melbourne last month and Tuesday sat in on rehearsals. “I felt like applauding all the way through,” Lifson said.

Your Hands Together

Applauding all the way through is kind of how it went at the Center--much to the dancers’ delight. “It gives you a boost,” said soloist Roy Wilson. “Sometimes, it’s more sincere just to clap and not to be so correct,” said corps member Susan Elston. Artistic director Maina Gielgud (niece of actor Sir John Gielgud) found the audience “obviously knowledgeable” for not interrupting the movement with applause “but also very encouraging. Audiences are different in different countries,” she said. “American audiences show their feelings so easily. The dancers love it.”

Also Seen

Thursday marked the North American debut of the ballet “Catalyst,” and its choreographer, Stephen Baynes, attended the performance and party. Lisa Pavane, who danced the lead role in “Giselle,” and her husband, Greg Horsman (Giselle’s amour, Count Albrecht) arrived by limo at close to midnight--fashionably late, due to post-show phone interviews with Australian radio and TV. Ballet board chairman Sir Robert Southey and Lady Southey mingled with a party crowd that included locals Lois and Buzz Aldrin, Jolene and Richard Engel, Gunnel and Bob Cole, Michael Nobbs, Ballet Pacifica director Molly Lynch and Jim Jones, president of the Dance Alliance support group.

Buffet

A lo-o-ng line wrapped around the buffet tables for most of the party--proof that dancing (and watching dancing?) is an appetite-stimulating business. Banquet queen Dolores Aleccia served up assorted pizzas, shrimp tortellini, stuffed mushroom caps, grilled fish, linguini with sausage and peppers, fresh fruit, vegetables with spinach dip and chocolate fudge cake with chocolate butter cream frosting (and itty bitty dancers twirling on their toes for decoration).

Quote

Having a major, international company here is like having an affair,” joked Richard Bryant, marketing director for the Performing Arts Center. “You work up to it for a long, long time--and then it’s over real fast.”