Maina Gielgud

During the 1970s, the Australian Ballet was known to Americans as a mostly anonymous ensemble dancing behind such big-name stars as Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. In fact, the last time the 28-year-old company performed in this country was in 1976, when it traveled with Fonteyn in Ronald Hynd's "The Merry Widow." When it returns this week to the Orange County Performing Arts Center, there will be no guest stars.

During the 1970s, the Australian Ballet was known to Americans as a mostly anonymous ensemble dancing behind such big-name stars as Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. In fact, the last time the 28-year-old company performed in this country was in 1976, when it traveled with Fonteyn in Ronald Hynd's "The Merry Widow." When it returns this week to the Orange County Performing Arts Center, there will be no guest stars.

During the 1970s, the Australian Ballet was known to Americans as a mostly anonymous ensemble dancing behind such big-name stars as Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. In fact, the last time the company performed in this country was in 1976, when it traveled with Fonteyn in Ronald Hynd's "The Merry Widow." As the 28-year-old troupe returns to the United States on a national tour that includes an Aug. 7-12 engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, there will be no guest stars.

During the 1970s, the Australian Ballet was known to Americans as a mostly anonymous ensemble dancing behind such big-name stars as Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. In fact, the last time the company performed in this country was in 1976, when it traveled with Fonteyn in Ronald Hynd's "The Merry Widow." As the 28-year-old troupe returns to the United States on a national tour that includes an Aug. 7-12 engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, there will be no guest stars.

The Australian Ballet will appear at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Aug. 7 through 12, according to an advertisement in the latest edition of the widely used Stern's Performing Arts Directory. It would be the only appearance on the West Coast by the Melbourne-based company next year. However, Center officials would not confirm the booking, saying only that negotiations with the company are under way.

John Lanchbery, who helped upgrade music for ballet in a 55-year career of conducting, arranging and re-composing scores for many of the world's great companies, has died. He was 79. An artist who believed in attending rehearsals to learn how individual dancers think and what they need from their accompaniment, Lanchbery died of cancer Wednesday in a hospital in Melbourne, Australia, his home city.

The summer begins with a must-hear survey of recent American music at the Ojai Festival. Following that, though, major companies from Japan, Australia and the Soviet Union stake strong claims to our attention, amid the usual symphonic parade at the Hollywood Bowl and two festival gatherings of Southern California dancers. The ear-stretching Americana agenda at Ojai comes courtesy of Stephen Mosko, this year's music director.

At the Barre About 100 local balletomanes and arts donors hobnobbed with members of the Australian Ballet on Tuesday after the company's opening-night show at the Performing Arts Center. The cast-and-patron event, in Birraporetti's restaurant in South Coast Plaza, was livelier than most--especially when a deejay got to work at 12:30 a.m. and the loose and limber corps scooted from their booths for an hour of unchoreographed dance fever.

Australian Ballet artistic director Maina Gielgud has outlined current repertory plans for the company's Aug. 7 through 12 engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, part of its first tour of the United States in 14 years. Gielgud's 1986 staging of "Giselle" will share one program with Serge Lifar's "Suite en blanc" (music by Lalo), a virtuoso display piece choreographed in 1943 for the Paris Opera Ballet.

There's a passage early in the second act of the Australian Ballet "Giselle" where Ulrike Lytton's icy force as Myrta and John Lanchbery's swift, urgent conducting momentarily propel the company beyond glazed rectitude into something like glory. Here, in the allegro ensemble preceding Giselle's entrance from the grave, we watch the full potential of 19 women and the full power of "Giselle" as Romantic dance-drama mutually realized.

When the Australian Ballet comes to the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, August 7, there won't be any easily recognizable names leading the way. The focus, this time, is on young talent: the kind of talent that has been nurtured by Maina Gielgud, the company's artistic director since 1983; talent in which she has such confidence that she is fielding four casts of "Giselle," talent that has scored recent successes in such discriminating ballet capitals as Moscow and London.

In a departure from its past emphasis on ballet, the Orange County Performing Arts Center will for the first time present a modern dance troupe, Center officials said Monday in announcing their 1990-91 dance season. The Martha Graham Dance Company of New York will make its only Southern California appearances Jan. 4-6, 1991, at the Center.