California Ballet Scales Back but Tries Something New

California Ballet’s season of grass-roots dance will be less ambitious than usual this year because of budget constraints, but the troupe will try something new by sponsoring the Tokyo Festival Ballet during the 1990-91 season.

The 16-member ensemble is formed by participants of Japan’s International Ballet Competition, and the March 23, season-concluding performance at the San Diego Civic Theatre will be by some of Japan’s most prominent choreographers.

The season gets under way this Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., when the California Ballet returns to the alfresco ambience of Sea World’s Nautilus Amphitheater to introduce four new repertory pieces.

In December, the ballet will dust off its annual Christmas confection, “The Nutcracker,” for a double run. This year, the familiar East County Performing Arts Center will be replaced by a weekend run at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, with performances scheduled for Dec. 8-9.

The full-blown “Nutcracker” spectacle, complete with live orchestra, will return to the Civic Theatre on Dec. 14-23.

“We had to leave ECPAC because they gave our dates away to the college,” said ballet director Maxine Mahon. (The center is under the auspices of Grossmont College).

“It’s true that we’re cutting back on our season ticket” package, Mahon said, “but there will still be as many performances as usual. We have the dancers doing 30 weeks, and we’ll have lecture demos and college performances throughout the year.”