Russian Dancer in Fine Company : Ballet: Altynai Assylmuratova, who performs next week in Costa Mesa, says new opportunities have put the Kirov in great shape.

Kirov Ballet principal dancer Altynai Assylmuratova is quick to dismiss the impression that the breakup of the Soviet Union has had an adverse affect on Russia’s preeminent classical troupe--or, for that matter, on the country.

“That’s completely wrong,” she said through an interpreter in a recent phone interview from Amsterdam, where the Kirov was dancing before coming to the United States.

“In Russia, there is great continuity,” she said. “The situation is much more difficult in the different republics. If we lived in the republics where there is military aggression and civil war, it would be different. In St. Petersburg and Russia, everything is more or less the same.”

Moreover, she insisted, “the company financially is in the best position it’s ever been in. We earn a lot of money on tour. And now the (portion) we earn goes straight to the theater, not through Moscow like it used to, when different cultural organizations took a very high percentage.

“Now there is money to buy different things and invite in new choreographers.”

Assylmuratova and her husband, Konstantin Zaklinsky, will dance the title roles of “Romeo and Juliet” with the Kirov on Tuesday and May 23 in Costa Mesa. They will also dance in the mixed repertory programs on Thursday and Friday.

Assylmuratova, born in 1961, joined the Kirov in 1978. Zaklinsky, her husband of 12 years, was born in 1955 and joined the Kirov in 1974. They were scheduled to dance when the company came to Orange County in 1989 but had to cancel so they could return to the Soviet Union when Assylmuratova’s mother became gravely ill. She died in 1990.

Although they call themselves “permanent members” of the company, they are both “very happy” at their opportunities to guest with other companies.

“There is a great choice of opportunities now,” she said. “Besides the official tours of the Maryinsky (the Kirov’s original name, to which it will revert after this tour), it’s possible to choose. And (company artistic director Oleg) Vinogradov is very generous in this way.

“We often come to Leningrad just to change costumes, pick up different things we need for tours and dance a couple of performances. We’re on the road almost all the time. This tour will take about three months. It very much resembles a gypsy life. But you have to get accustomed to that. There is no way out. . . .

“Of course, we’re very happy. We wish we could have had the same opportunities much earlier.”

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the dancers have seen their salaries triple. But prices also have risen, including tickets to the ballet.

“In comparison, (ticket prices) are still very low,” Assylmuratova said. “Five years ago, the most expensive ticket was 3 or 4 rubles. Now it’s about 15 rubles. But it’s difficult to compare to the dollar. You should compare it to things that are normal for the rank-and-file people. The price of a loaf of bread, for instance, is 7 rubles.

“So audiences are still very large and still eager to go to the theater.”

Indeed, a kind of cultural explosion has occurred, she said.

“Lots of studios and old halls have opened, and new halls were discovered inside different mansions. These smaller theaters, as in London or New York, seat 60 to 600 people, and each has its own artistic profile. There are several smaller ballet companies, too. They are all full.”

The scope of programming has broadened as well. “The standard, academic theaters have had to change their repertory to include things that are much more Western in their repertoire,” Assylmuratova said. “Six or seven years ago, there was a certain quota imposed by the local minister of culture: ‘No, no Tennessee Williams,’ he would say. ‘Well, just maybe one play in three years.’ Now you stage whatever you want.”

The same is true for ballet troupes, and Kirov director Vinogradov recently helped make company history by inviting Westerners to St. Petersburg to stage the works of George Balanchine, Antony Tudor and Jerome Robbins.

Many Russians, including Assylmuratova, regard Balanchine as one of their own, even though he left that country in 1924 and his works were banned there for more than 50 years.

“The way from the classics to Balanchine is logical,” she insisted. “Brought up as we were at the Vaganova Academy of Dance (the company school), it’s natural and much easier to cope with all the difficulties of Mr. Balanchine. But to go from Balanchine to the classics, such as ‘La Bayadere,’ would have been much more difficult.”

On the other hand, the psychological ballets of Tudor proved more elusive to them when a Tudor representative, Airi Hynennen, set “The Leaves Are Fading” (to be danced on the mixed bill program next Thursday and Friday) and “Jardin aux Lilas” on the company.

“Tudor was very unusual, but not in the way of technical difficulties,” she said. “We had to work on the psychology of all these things. Miss Hynennen explained lots of things, and then we understood that each gesture, each step, meant something and was full of psychological meanings and feelings.”

But it was Robbins--with whom they worked while learning his “In the Night”--who most captivated them.

“Mr. Robbins is the most outstanding choreographer in the world,” Assylmuratova said.

“He’s very interesting from different points of view. He uses classical technique but turned through his own vision. Each movement separately meant something. Combination was very unusual, very lovely. We enjoyed working with him.”

In fact, Assylmuratova and her husband wish Robbins or some other choreographer would create a work for them.

“There have been no discussions, not yet,” she said. “But we’re dreaming of a ballet that will be created especially for us, with our personalities and individualities taken into consideration.”

Altynai Assylmuratova and Konstantin Zaklinsky will dance the title roles in the Kirov Ballet’s production of “Romeo and Juliet” on Tuesday and May 23 at 8 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Other Kirov dancers will take these roles on Wednesday at 8 p.m. and on May 23 and 24 at 2 p.m. The company will also dance a program of works by George Balanchine and Antony Tudor on Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m. Assylmuratova and Zaklinsky will dance in Tudor’s “The Leaves are Fading,” and Zaklinsky will take the title role of Balanchine’s “Apollo.” $20 to $65. (714) 556-2787.