Ballet Mississippi.

Ballet Mississippi has advertised its 1993 season as "A Dynamic New Beginning" due, no doubt, to the arrival of Fernando Bujones as the company's artistic director.

Jackson, the state capital and home of the troupe, is accustomed to good, even great, dancing. The USA branch of the International Ballet Competition is headquartered here and a strong community of dance enthusiasts has watched the Jackson Ballet Guild and Mississippi Ballet Theatre grow and eventually merge into Ballet Mississippi. This is a company worthy of enthusiastic support.

Bujones's staging of the Petipa-Minkus Paquita quickly introduced a strong female corps. Soloist Ana Lobe, partnered by a supportive and gallant Bujones, displayed effortless precision and strength on pointe. She was no surprise to local audiences, who first saw her perform at the 1990 IBC with Grand Prix winner Jose Manuel Carreno.

With his rough-hewn elegance, Andrew Drost, formerly of Boston Ballet II and Ballet South, made a striking debut in Gopak, Rostislav Zakharov's variation (staged by Bujones) on the Ukrainian folk dance. Marina Eglevsky provided an almost reverential look at Balanchine's Minkus Pas de Trois, which introduced another Boston Ballet transfer, the spirited Tiffany Kmet. Her gracefully fluid extension and commanding stage presence confirmed the talents she had shown earlier in Paquita's third variation.

Bujones, canny showman that he is, saved the best for last. First, in a solo turn, he performed two of Bejart's Greek Dances. Sinewy and sensuous, he remains one of the dance world's few true stars.

For the program's conclusion Bujones introduced his staging of the third act of Bournonville's Napoli. A series of dynamic solos followed the familiar gathering of merry peasants, with a feverish Drost and a lusty Lobe again the most spectacular of the group. And Jairus Owens and Dmitri Kouznetsov proved late in the evening that they would be well worth looking for in future performances.

The evening was not without its setbacks. The auditorium's monstrous sound system suggested that the prerecorded music was being piped in from Siberia via tin cans and string. And an odd lighting choice during the final moments of Bujones's own rather gooey Clair de Lune bathed the six dancers in an unflattering wash of orange.

But these performances made it clear that Bujones is committed to challenging and championing the dancers who have been entrusted to his leadership. His greatest triumph at the opening was not his own dancing but rather his unveiling of a strong and vigorous young company.