BALLET CONCIERTO TURNS TWENTY.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico--Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico threw a breathtaking bash with Latin style for its twentieth anniversary on March 13 with more than twenty international dancers joining the company in a gala performance at the Luis A. Ferre Performing Arts Center.

Five American Ballet Theatre stars, including Angel Corella, his sister Carmen Corella, and Joaquin de Luz, headlined the bill. Ballet Nacional de Cuba's Lorna Feijoo showed what the hype is all about with a lucid Romeo and Juliet accompanied by Nelson Madrigal. Rut Miro and Carlos Lopez, from Ballet de la Comunidad de Madrid de Victor Ullate, reunited with fellow Ullate alumni: the Corellas, de Luz, and Maria Gimenez. Gabriela Alberti. Hernan Piquin demonstrated the youthful potential of the Ballet of the Teatro Colon of Buenos Aires, while Emmanuelle Broncin and Patrick de Bana from Compania Nacional de Danza de Espana danced their director Nacho Duato's Cor Perdut.

The Hispanic seasoning was characteristic of the company, which has infused classical ballet in the Caribbean with a special Latin character that they also take abroad. Founder and artistic director Lolita San Miguel--who danced with the Joffrey and who was soloist for ten years with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet--has taken the troupe all over the United States and Europe. The company most recently traveled to Egypt and Taiwan with signature productions of Carmen and Phantom of the Opera, choreographed by Ballet Nacional de Cuba's Alberto Mendez. Ballet Concierto has performed The Nutcracker for eighteen years; it also encourages local talent, including works by local choreographers who were first seen in the annual BC Choreographers Festival, now celebrating its thirteenth year.

When Ballet Concierto began, each of the board members contributed $100 as seed money. Today the company has an annual budget of almost $1 million. San Miguel's fund-raising has been novel: two years ago the troupe danced at the steps of the Capitol building to attract legislative interest. They received a stipend, but not recurrent funds, which would be renewed automatically each year. Now the company faces more uncertainty--a government development project will displace them from their studios. "Now we have to move," says San Miguel. "To where, I don't know."