BALLET OF THE BLUES DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM JAZZES IT UP WITH 'ST. LOUIS WOMAN'.

Byline: Vicki Smith Paluch Correspondent

Dance Theatre of Harlem has plenty to celebrate when it returns to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion this weekend for its first engagement in nearly two decades.

Bringing its newest work - ``St. Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet'' - the troupe is marking its 35th anniversary and the upcoming 70th birthday of artistic director Arthur Mitchell, America's first male black ballet star, who co-founded the company in 1969.

The company, like many others across the country, is also commemorating the 100th birthday of Mitchell's mentor, the legendary choreographer George Balanchine, co-founder of New York City Ballet. Dance Theatre of Harlem will open the program with ``Serenade'' (1934), the first ballet Balanchine choreographed in America.

``When Mr. Balanchine came to America, he was impressed with the American speed and created neo-classicism for the American dancer,'' Mitchell said during a telephone interview from his office in New York City. ``I owe my allegiance to Mr. B., because that's where I came from. Here at Dance Theatre of Harlem, we celebrate American speed and eclecticism. That's why I coined the phrase 'classically American' for the company.''

``St. Louis Woman'' was the first Broadway production done with an all-black cast and starred the legendary Pearl Bailey. It has been updated and given new life by Michael Smuin, who turned the musical about the denizens of the Rocking Horse Saloon and the St. Louis racetrack into a ``blues ballet'' accompanied by live orchestra and singers. The ballet's score features such American songbook classics from Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer as ``Come Rain or Come Shine,'' ``I Had Myself a True Love,'' ``Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home,'' ``Legalize My Name'' and ``It's a Woman's Prerogative.'' Its West Coast premiere will also show off a wide range of dance styles from choreographer Michael Smuin, including ballet, tap, jazz, tango and other social dances.

``The music just cries out to be danced to. It's just amazing to watch the audience leave the house singing the songs,'' said Smuin in a telephone interview from his San Francisco home.

Jack Wrangler of the Johnny Mercer Foundation first approached Mitchell with the idea of staging ``St. Louis Woman'' as a ballet in 2001. Mitchell turned to his friend, Smuin, whose crossover background includes classical ballet (American Ballet Theatre and San Francisco Ballet) contemporary ballet (Smuin Ballet/SF) and musical theater (``Sophisticated Ladies'' and ``Anything Goes''). Smuin explained that nearly a decade earlier he had begun playing with the idea of reworking the show and had hired a musicologist to compile the Arlen-Mercer songs.

``Harold Arlen, for me, has always been one of the unsung heroes in American music,'' Smuin said. ``St. Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet'' sets the action in the 1940s rather than the original's 1890s. ``The original show, by today's standards or even by the standards then, was demeaning, even racist'' in its minstrel-inflected characters,'' Smuin said. ``We wanted to elevate the music and make it elegant.''

Mitchell insisted that the ballet be set in the 1940s, the time when the music was created. ``I wanted to see the legs and the pointe work. You can't see it under long dresses,'' explained Mitchell. ``We have such wonderful ballerinas in the lead roles, Caroline Rocher and Tai Jimenez.''

With the women's lines glamorously extended, viewers may feel free to make comparisons to Balanchine's Broadway ballet, ``Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,'' in which Mitchell performed the role of the tap dancer.

``I am very much following in the footsteps of Mr. B.,'' said Mitchell, who danced with New York City Ballet for 15 years and started Dance Theatre of Harlem shortly after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. ``What we do is more than ballet. That's why I called the company Dance Theatre of Harlem, not the Harlem Ballet Company. We train our dancers in many dance styles - and acting,'' Mitchell said.

Smuin's background was more eclectic. ``I started as a hoofer, went into modern dance (with Donald McKayle), African and then ballet with Mr. B,'' he said.

Smuin believes that no other dance company has the breadth of dance styles and dramatic ability required for ``St. Louis Woman.'' When it opened the Lincoln Center Festival last summer, the New York critics hailed it as a ``gorgeous entertainment'' and a ``breakout hit.'' Mitchell and Smuin managed to pull together a production ``dream team'' consisting of designer Tony Walton and costume designer Willa Kim, with lighting by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer. The cast of 40 is headed by Rocher, Jimenez, Donald Williams and Ikolo Griffin.

``It was meant to be performed in a big opera house. It is perfect for the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion,'' Mitchell said. ``I believe this will be the company's signature piece. I wanted to show that we could be classical in a theatrical form.''

And there may be life after the ballet for ``St. Louis Woman.'' ``We're seriously considering expanding it and taking it to Broadway,'' said Mitchell. ``Michael has found hundreds of songs. Musical theater is the great American art form. We are working so hard to get Johnny and Harold's music out there.''

DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM

What: ``St. Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet'' and ``Serenade.''

Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $25 to 75. [phone]; www.musiccenter.org.

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Photo:

Originally set in the 1890s, ``St. Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet'' is now set in the same time as its music - the 1940s.