Is This Just a Dance Around Names?

Is “Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet”--a group of Russian ballet dancers scheduled to perform tonight at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza and next Tuesday and Wednesday at Cerritos Center for the Arts--really the Bolshoi Ballet, and are its dancers really stars?

Andrew Grossman, senior vice president of Columbia Artists Management, producer of the “Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet” North American tour, says yes. But officials of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre offer a resounding nyet.

While Vladimir Shishmolkin, chief of the International Department of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, and Bolshoi Theatre artistic director Vladimir Vasiliev deny that “Stars of the Bolshoi” contains any current Bolshoi dancers, Grossman insists that his dancers are indeed members of the Bolshoi. And though the Bolshoi spokesmen represent the official voice of the Bolshoi, it can be difficult for the average ticket buyer to figure out what to believe.

Grossman’s troupe contains at least a few members who have at one time danced with the Bolshoi. And the ticket buyers’ confusion may be heightened by recent upheavals at the Bolshoi Theatre after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which resulted in the exodus of a number of longtime Bolshoi Ballet officials and dancers, leaving even those familiar with the troupe perplexed about just who’s still “Bolshoi” and who’s not.

In April 1995, the Bolshoi Theatre registered the term “Bolshoi” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the first time in its long history, and the group has threatened to sue Columbia Artists for misuse of the name.

While offering no comment about this particular tour, longtime L.A. dance impresario James Doolittle said that current Russian ballet tours are at best a mixed bag. “At one time, the big Russian companies were the best performing companies in the world,” Doolittle said. “Now, they are a shambles--dancers are dancing everywhere, every little company is [calling itself] ‘Kirov’ or ‘Bolshoi.’

“The thing is ridiculous, and some people are taking great advantage of it.”

Grossman said the group of 42 dancers who will appear in Thousand Oaks and Cerritos contains two dancers clearly identified as members of the Kirov Ballet, but the rest are current members of the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet. He says all dancers performing major roles in “Stars” are indeed Bolshoi soloists and principal dancers, although the corps de ballet dancers may hail from the Bolshoi corps.

Shishmolkin, on the other hand, says the roster includes several former ballet dancers from Bolshoi Theatre, and the rest (except for the two Kirov dancers) are members of Russia’s Ufa Opera and Ballet Theatre, a far less prestigious organization.

“These artists have no right for unsanctioned use of the Bolshoi Theatre name in their advertisement,” said Shishmolkin via fax from Moscow. “The company . . . bears no relation to our theater and its choreographic mastership. . . . The administration of the Bolshoi Theatre has officially informed the USA Ambassador in Moscow about illegal actions on the part of [Columbia Artists] and is now preparing the necessary documents in order to bring a suit to the court.”

Grossman is also adamant: “Well, you can’t stop people from using the name if they are, indeed, dancers from the Bolshoi,” he said. “Per international law, you can’t stop it.”

The controversy, sparked by letters of protest from Shishmolkin and Vasiliev to editors at New York-based Dance Magazine earlier this year, has dogged the “Stars” tour. Cincinnati’s Aronoff Center for the Arts took the unusual step of offering ticket buyers their money back if they were not satisfied with the troupe’s performances in early April. The offer drew a handful of takers before the performances, but no one who saw the show asked for their money back, an Aronoff spokesman said.

The turmoil at the Bolshoi began in the spring of 1995, when the company’s artistic director of 30 years, Yuri Grigorovich, was forced to resign and was replaced by Vachtoslav Gordeev. Eighteen dancers who went on strike in support of Grigorovich were “suspended”--some say outright fired--by Bolshoi Theatre director general Vladimir Kokonin.

The deposed Grigorovich is credited with “artistic direction” of the “Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet” tour, and Grossman says Grigorovich personally selected its dancers. Three of the Bolshoi dancers suspended by Kokonin--Natalia Arkhipova, Maria Bylova and Yuri Vetrov--perform in “Stars of the Bolshoi.”

Even though Grigorovich was forced to resign, Grossman insisted, “People know Grigorovich, they know his name, it’s a stamp of approval. If I’m buying a Rolls-Royce, I want to see that double R on the grille, you know? Grigorovich is the Bolshoi.” Grossman also said that despite his resignation Grigorovich remains on the Bolshoi Theatre staff as “chief choreographer.”

But Shishmolkin said that Grigorovich no longer holds any title with the Bolshoi. “Mr. Grigorovich was choreographer of some ballets, but these [ballets] are the property of the Bolshoi Theatre,” he said. “Grigorovich received some money for this, but that is all, nothing else.”

So far, the “Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet” has received mediocre to highly positive reviews. While a Cincinnati Enquirer critic found the dancers overly dramatic, the Palm Beach (Fla.) Daily News and the Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World both raved over the “brilliant stars.”

Grossman said that “Stars of the Bolshoi” continues to play to sold-out houses. “Nothing sells tickets like controversy,” he said. “I don’t know if P.T. Barnum said that, or Billy Rose, but somebody is credited with having said it, and it’s true.”