A FEW HOOPS TO CLEAR.

Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard

George Balanchine might be called the father of American ballet.

It was Balanchine whose work bridged classical and modern ballet; Balanchine who founded the New York City Ballet; and Balanchine who in 1954 turned the idea of "Nutcracker" into the biggest moneymaker the ballet world has today.

But Eugene Ballet has never performed a Balanchine ballet.

That's all about to change this weekend when Balanchine's 1970 "Who Cares?" comes to the Hult Center. It is a playful modernist romp set to the music of George Gershwin.

Bringing the choreography of the master to Eugene was no simple task.

"It is not an easy process," said Riley Grannan, Eugene Ballet's managing director. "The George Balanchine Foundation has to be convinced you'll do it right."

And that turns out to involve weeks of work.

For details, we turned to Ellen Sorrin, director of the New York-based George Balanchine Trust, which jealously guards the copyright to all of Balanchine's work.

A couple hundred ballet companies around the world perform a Balanchine work with the trust's permission during any given year, she said.

And each year a couple of dozen new applications come in from companies - such as Eugene Ballet - who want to perform one for the first time.

That means a thorough investigation, which starts by the trust requesting a DVD of the troupe in performance.

"If no one has seen the company, if there hasn't been someone from the trust there, we will ask to look at a DVD of the company's work," she said.

The company also has to specify what ballet it would like to perform.

Often, the trust looks at the DVD and says OK.

"On the other hand," Sorrin said, "we may feel for one reason or another the ballet is not suitable for the company. Sometimes you might have dancers in a company where no one can fill the principal roles in a way the trust might want them to be filled."

And occasionally the trust's reaction lies somewhere in the middle.

"Sometimes we suggest maybe they would like to bring one of our ballet masters out to teach dance classes for a week."

All of this, of course, is to ensure two things: One, the quality of the resulting performance and, two, that the canon of Balanchine's work isn't changed.

The Eugene Ballet's initial response from the trust fell somewhere in the middle.

It originally wanted to do "Rubies," part of Balanchine's 1967 "Jewels."

"They said, `Not now,'?" Grannan said. "They don't know us. We aren't one of their people. But for starting to do Balanchine, `Who Cares?' is a good entree."

And that's only the first step.

The trust then sends a repetiteur - that's French for "rehearser" - to spend time with the company and make certain everyone does the steps just as Balanchine intended.

The trust is conservative about matters of interpretation.

"The ballets are the ballets," Sorrin said firmly. "There can be different interpretations of music, but the notes are still the notes.

The choreography is the choreography, and it has to be done the way it's choreographed."

Eugene Ballet was required to bring out Balanchine repetiteur Jerri Kumery at a cost of $3,000 plus air fare, hotel and a per diem for two weeks' work with the ballet's dancers.

And it had to sign off on a detailed agreement that goes on in considerable detail, as in the following provision:

You shall include in each program guide listing the Balanchine[R] Ballet, the following notice: "The performance of [Name of Ballet], a Balanchine[R] Ballet, is presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust - and has been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style[R] and Balanchine Technique[R] Service standards established and provided by the Trust.

Needless to say, Eugene Ballet finally surmounted all these hurdles and is ready for its big show this weekend.

"Who Cares?" grew out of Balanchine's familiarity with the world of popular music. "He was great friends with a number of composers," Grannan said.

The ballet features such music as "The Man I Love," danced as a pas de deux by Leoannis Pupo-Guillen and Jennifer Martin; "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise," with Suzanne Haag dancing solo; and "Embraceable You," danced by Yun-Kyung Kim and Pupo-Guillen. The title song is danced by Haag and Pupo-Guillen.

The program also includes two works choreographed by Toni Pimble, Eugene Ballet's artistic director. They are "Silk & Steel" and "May Dances."

Dance preview Eugene Ballet What: Eugene Ballet performs George Balanchine's "Who Cares," along with Toni Pimble's "Silk & Steel" and "May Dances"

Where: Hult Center's Silva Concert Hall, Seventh Avenue and Willamette Street When: 8 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $18 to $42; call 682-5000 or go to www.tickets.com