Joffrey Gets Last Chance as Resident Company : Ballet: Lacking finances, the company’s spring season was in doubt--until Music Center officials made a deal to cement May 7-June 2 dates.

After weeks of cliffhanging uncertainty, Music Center and Joffrey officials announced Thursday that the company will dance at the Music Center May 7-June 2 as planned. The Joffrey’s season--in doubt over finances--will be its last under its current contract as a resident Music Center company.

Michael E. Tennenbaum, vice chairman of the Joffrey Ballet, announced at a press conference in Century City the financial deal that enabled the company to come to Los Angeles:

* To assist offsetting the Joffrey’s L.A. touring costs, the Music Center has agreed to cancel $150,000 of a $250,000 debt owed it by the company.

* Certain members of the Joffrey executive committee have arranged guarantees of up to $400,000 to protect the Music Center against any losses during the spring season.

Tennenbaum said the company’s debt is $300,000 or less, including the $100,000 owed to the Music Center, “the lowest it has been in years.” Tennenbaum also said he expects the $100,000 Music Center debt to be paid off during the spring season.

The spring season may not be the last time Los Angeles sees the Joffrey Ballet this year. Tennenbaum said that the Joffrey is negotiating with the Music Center for a 1991 “Nutcracker” season. “We expect and hope that to be resolved in a matter of days,” he said.

But Tennenbaum also said: “We have been advised that the Music Center has made (other booking) arrangements for what would have been the Joffrey’s 1992 spring season.” Tennenbaum also announced a new executive director, Robert Yesselman, former executive director of the Paul Taylor Dance Company.

Sandra Kimberling, president of the Music Center Operating Co., said Thursday: “(The Joffrey has) had a contract to perform in May and from our standpoint that has never been in question.”

Earlier this month, while the company was in the middle of its three-week season at Lincoln Center in New York, the Joffrey was informed that its Music Center contract as resident dance company would not be renewed beyond June 30, 1991. The Music Center said the renewal was denied because of the Joffrey’s unstable financial status. That condition caused Music Center officials to express doubts that the company would be able to perform here in May, although the Joffrey maintained it would do so.

A resident company at the Music Center since 1983, the Joffrey’s last 12 months have been full of turmoil. On the eve of its May, 1990, season here, an internal power struggle caused artistic director Gerald Arpino to submit his resignation and prohibit the performance of his ballets and those belonging to the estate of Robert Joffrey. After several key financial backers on the board resigned, Arpino allowed his and Joffrey’s ballets to be performed and returned to head the company.

Last fall, the Joffrey had a triumphant tour of Europe with a Diaghilev bill, and successful “Nutcracker” Christmas seasons on both coasts. The company then danced a critically and commercially successful season at Lincoln Center in New York that concluded two weeks ago.

The Joffrey’s final Music Center season as a resident company is scheduled to open May 7 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with a 35th-anniversary gala sponsored by Absolut Vodka, a duplicate of the gala held March 5 in Lincoln Center.

Four Los Angeles premieres make up this program: Christopher d’Amboise’s “Runaway Train” (music by Bela Bartok), Charles Moulton’s “Panoramagram” (music by Bill Obrecht), the late Edward Stierle’s “Empyrean Dances” (music by Howard Hanson) and a revival of Robert Joffrey’s 1980 “Postcards” (music by Erik Satie).

These one-act ballets will also turn up on mixed bills throughout the 27-day season, as will two company premieres: George Balanchine’s “Tarantella” (to be introduced on the May 8 program) and Alonzo King’s “Lila” (to be seen for the first time on May 10). Balanchine’s pas de deux is set to music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and King’s group piece is danced to a score by Donald Fontowitz.

Among familiar Joffrey repertory, the season’s highlights include John Cranko’s full-evening “Romeo and Juliet” (music by Sergei Prokofiev) and a reshuffled version of the company’s Diaghilev program: Leonide Massine’s “Parade” (music by Satie), Vaslav Nijinsky’s “L’Apres-midi d’un Faune” (music by Claude Debussy) and Bronislava Nijinska’s “Les Noces” (music by Igor Stravinsky).

Revivals of two Arpino ballets have also been announced: “Kettentanz” (music by Johann Strauss Sr. and Johann Mayer) and “Light Rain” (music by Douglas Adams and Russ Gauthier).

The eight remaining ballets in the season include six more works by Arpino, “Cotillon” by Balanchine and “The Green Table” by Kurt Jooss.