On leave from the Bolshoi, Soviet dancers get in step with American ballet.

In the past, Soviet ballet dancers wishing to break into the West had to break out of the East first. But glasnost has made defection unnecessary, say two young husband and wife dancers who took leaves from Moscow’s famed Bolshoi Ballet to forge careers in the United States.

Vitaly Artiushkin and Alla Khaniashvili-Artiushkina, who appear next weekend in the South Bay, were pioneers in the new freedom when they left the Bolshoi last September. They remain pioneers as few of their dancing comrades have followed their lead.

“It’s not difficult to do, to have freedom” in the new Soviet order, Vitaly said in an interview last week. “But it is difficult to decide to do it.”

“It changes your life,” Alla added.

Ballet dancers in the Soviet Union enjoy the status accorded movie stars in America, with guaranteed incomes, cars and apartments. In America, Vitaly and Alla, who danced principal roles with the Bolshoi, have had to create their own opportunities with the help of ballet people who know their work from the old country or have seen them on stage here.

So far, the couple have made about 45 appearances--including one in Taiwan--mostly in what amount to ballet excerpts, including the black swan and white swan pas de deux from “Swan Lake.” They danced a complete version of “The Nutcracker” in Chicago.

But they’d like to be working more, especially in new ballets. “When a professional dancer doesn’t dance, it’s no good,” Alla said.

The Soviets have found a showcase in the Palos Verdes Ballet, performing with them last year, this March and again next weekend. Using their Bolshoi choreography, they will star with the company in “Giselle” Saturday and Sept. 16 at the Norris Theatre for the Performing Arts in Rolling Hills Estates. It’s part of the events in the Open Los Angeles Festival.

The same production was done in March, and Vitaly and Alla performed “The Nutcracker” with the company last year. Alla also teaches at its school, the Palos Verdes Ballet Conservatory.

Fay Gillette, artistic director of the Palos Verdes troupe, said Vitaly’s and Alla’s appearances “let people know what they’re capable of.”

The two were 10 years old when they met at the Bolshoi’s school, where ballet became the center of their lives.

“You know nothing else,” Vitaly said. “You grow up, and you have a profession.”

They were married when they were 18 and are the parents of a 6-year-old daughter, Katya.

Although the dancers have the option of returning to the Bolshoi, they would prefer staying in America, where they feel they have more opportunities to work in a greater variety of ballets. The Bolshoi, they said, is a big company with too many dancers for the available roles. And the focus is on classical ballet.

Said Vitaly: “Here, you have a very wide repertoire, a lot of classical as in the Soviet Union, but modern and neoclassical. We have a foundation in what we learned in Russia. It is very good to do all kinds of work.”

They’re optimistic about their future in America. But like many others in show business, they’re in search of that vital helpmate--a good agent.