A Tetley-fest.

A decade before Twyla Tharp started mixing modern with ballet in the 1970s, Glen Tetley became the original crossover choreographer. Although he created most of his ballets in Europe, he has also mounted works on companies like American Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Houston Ballet. Now 80, he is currently based in Rome, but he still keeps an apartment in New York near the United Nations. "I'm an American," he said, "no matter where I'm living."

On September 7, Houston Ballet will revive Voluntaries (the word can mean either flight or desire), one of his most enduring works. Britain's Royal Ballet will also dance Voluntaries in October. They join several other companies recognizing Tetley's 80th year, including Stuttgart Ballet, where Voluntaries premiered in 1973, and the Norwegian National Ballet, which revived his full-length version of The Tempest at the beginning of the year.

Stuttgart's birthday gala in January showcased three of his ballets. "Eighty! Do you believe it? Well, I'm not all that sure that I do," he joked, "but the parties have been great."

Though now best known for his work with classical companies, Tetley began his career performing with modern pioneers, first on Broadway with Hanya Holm and then with Martha Graham. When he began taking ballet classes, he felt he had to hide it from them. "Back then it was still a 'them and us' war," he said. 'Tin not certain that Hanya ever forgave me. It was looked on as an act of betrayal."

Tetley went on to dance with the Joffrey Ballet, Jerome Robbins' Ballets: USA, and also with Ballet Theatre. From the outset, his own choreography attempted to erase those "them and us" battle lines. He was the first to fuse modern and ballet into a hybrid vocabulary. "I wanted to make my own language," Tetley said. "From the beginning I wanted both worlds."

His daring mix has always been controversial. His style, anathema to purists, proved both influential and liberating for other choreographers. His work has a luxurious sensuousness which most dancers love. Nureyev, Makarova, Anthony Dowell, Marcia Haydee, Martine van Hamel, Lynn Seymour, and Darcey Bussell are among the dancers who created roles in his work.

The last ballet Tetley devised was Lux in Tenebris for Houston in 1999. It may well have been his final creation. "There was a point when I was continuously choreographing, sometimes four ballets a year, and that took a lot out of me."

Minneapolis-born Deirdre Chapman, a soloist with The Royal Ballet, danced in The Royal's first performances of Pierrot Lunaire last season. Dating from 1962, this was Tetley's breakthrough work. "Like everybody else, I love working with him," she said. "It's so fulfilling. With three wise words he can tell you everything you need to know about a movement, about a whole character."

Tetley, in turn, is glowing in his praise for the thousands of dancers he's worked with over the past half century. "Coming back to London was one of the best experiences in my life. The dancers were so wonderful--intuitive and eager. It was sheer joy from start to finish. You know, dancers are such special people. I think they're what's keeping me alive."

Pierrot's Tower, a documentary film about Glen Tetley from Blackwood Productions, is available at www.panix.com/~Blackwoo/md_glentetley.html.