CRITICS' CHOICES FALL PREVIEW 2000.

U.S. Boston Area

Recommended by dance critic Iris Fanger

* The Boston Ballet opens the season with an ambitious schedule: two world premieres September 28-October 8 at the Wang Theatre. Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, will share a program with Samuel Barber's Cello Concerto, choreographed by Daniel Pelzig. Boston's superstar cello artist, Yo-Yo Ma, will accompany the work. The company returns to the Wang October 19-29 for the premiere of La Bayadere, choreographed by Natalia Makarova after Petipa, staged by Anna-Marie Holmes (recently Emmy-nominated for her PBS staging of Le Corsaire). It's Holmes's first setting of this classic, another notch on her achievement belt of guiding the 19th-century Russian ballets to the stage. Contact 617/482-6661.

* The Mark Morris Dance Group brings three Boston premieres to the Shubert Theatre, October 26--29, including the newest work, Sang-Froid, music by Frederic Chopin. Contact 800/447-7400.

Out at MassMoCA, the enormous contemporary arts museum in North Adams, Massachusetts, * Merce Cunningham and his troupe will be presenting a weekend of performances and lectures: October 26, An Evening with Merce Cunningham, followed by two performances, October 27-28. Paul Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar, digital artists, will speak on October 28 on the making of BIPED with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

* Dance Umbrella presents Boston and Martha's Vineyard-based artist Paula Josa-Jones and her company in a Boston premiere, Antigone's Dream at Babson College's Sorenson Center for the Arts, Wellesley, November 2-4. Pauline Oliveros, the choreographer's longtime collaborator, provides the score, with a scenario by playwright Laurie Carlos. The Dance Umbrella season continues November 30-December 3 with Rennie Harris Puremovement in Rome & Jewels, mixing hip-hop into the classic Shakespearean tragedy.

U.S.--Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Recommended by dance writer Karen Dacko

The Pittsburgh Dance Council presents * Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company at the Benedum Center October 7 in You Walk? Utilizing a soundscape, traditional music, vocalizations and projections, this two-part work explores the interdependency of community and individuality. Call 412/456-6666.

Musical collaboration is the focus of * Dance Alloy's October 13-14 series at the Byham Theatre. Choreographer Mark Taylor combines talents with composer Anne LeBaron and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble for Pope Joan. George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children is also slated. Contact [phone].

The crown prince of classicism, Mikhail Baryshnikov, now helming * White Oak Dance Project, meets the democratized post-modern Judson aesthetic in works by Yvonne Rainer, David Gordon and Steve Paxton that will include nonprofessional cast members. Presented by the Pittsburgh Dance Council November 7-8 at the Byham Theatre.

Ben Stevenson's $1.2 million Cleopatra, with its epic ambiance, makes its * Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre premiere October 26-29 at the Benedum Center. Contact [phone].

U.S.--New York Recommended by Gia Kourlas, Dance Editor, Time Out--New York

* Lucinda Childs Dance Company: Lucinda Childs started out as an original member of Judson Dance Theater and debuted her own work 25 years ago at the Whitney Museum. For her company's silver anniversary she presents Parcours, a 75-minute retrospective that makes the most of her crisp, minimalist style. The concert begins with the breathtaking 1976 piece, Radial Courses, and moves on to works from this year: Variete de Variete set to a score by Terry Riley. Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harvey Theater, October 11, 13-15. $17, $30, $45. Call [phone]. [see Lucinda Childs and Parcours]

* Choreographer Stephen Petronio celebrates his company's fifteenth anniversary with an evening-length spectacle, which features set design by British sculptor Anish Kapoor and commissioned scores by Michael Nyman and James Lavelle. Petronio likes to push boundaries. In this new dance, his innovative, fluid movement is charged by the shift between order and chaos. But, don't worry; here, science won't have a chance of overshadowing the dance. Joyce Theater, October 17-22. $35. Call [phone].

* Headlong Dance Theater. The witty, wonderful Philadelphia-based Headlong Dance Theater, led by David Brick, Andrew Simonet and Amy Smith, returns to New York with Ulysses: Sly Uses of a Book by James Joyce. It's quite a shift from their brilliant and hilarious 1999 presentation of ST*R W*RS, in which the collaborators deconstructed the blockbuster film Star Wars (dancers simply donned earmuffs to transform themselves into Princess Leia). In Ulysses, James Joyce's 1922 novel is Headlong's fodder. But don't be fooled: Headlong isn't completely about laughs. In the best sense, the artists behind this intelligent collaboration are freaks about form. Dance Theater Workshop, October 19-22. $15.

* Ralph Lemon continues his personal investigation of race and culture with the second installation of The Geography Trilogy. In Tree, a work that grew out of the choreographer's affinity for the principles of Zen Buddhism, Lemon invited a handful of important artists into the creative process--along with twelve musicians and dancers from around the world [see Broadway Does Bocca Good]. Music is by downtown rocker James Lo and sets are dreamed up by the marvelous Nari Ward, who has erected a spectacular four-story installation of wooden pallets. Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harvey Theater, October 24, 26-28. $17, $30, $45.

* American Ballet Theatre. Being deprived of Ethan Stiefel for ABT's entire spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House was agonizing, unless, of course, you preferred him onscreen in the Nicholas Hytner film Center Stage. He's scheduled to perform in a slew of ballets this fall, including the company's revival of Prodigal Son during ABT's more intimate City Center season. The smaller theater highlights the company in repertory works. Christian Holder premieres Weren't We Fools? set to Cole Porter's music, and the Australian Ballet's Natalie Weir premieres Jabula. In addition, there will be performances of Martha Graham's Diversion of Angels (take it any way you can), Antony Tudor's sublime Jardin aux Lilas and Balanchine's Theme and Variations. City Center, October 24 through November 5. Call [phone].

* David Dorfman Dance. Choreographer David Dorfman is slightly underrated as a serious dancemaker; nevertheless, each year as he hones his craft, his rich dance concerts are full of subtle philosophical points, lush movement, and a smart use of new music. For his BAM debut, he teams up with composers Amy Denio and Hahn Rowe to present To Lie Tenderly, a work that touches upon issues of intimacy as well as notions of troth, individuality and what happens when you fall in with the wrong group. Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harvey Theater, December 6, 8-10. $17, $30, $40.

U.S.--New Jersey Recommended by dance writer Karyn Collins

* Julio Bocca and Ballet Argentino open first at Princeton's McCarter Theater October 4-5, then move to New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), Prudential Hall, in Newark for one performance October 6. Don't miss the fabulous Bocca with his own company [see Broadway Does Bocca Good].

* The Bale Folclorico da Bahia follows, October 8 (McCarter) and October 13 (NJPAC).

* American Repertory Ballet starts its second season under artistic director Graham Lustig October 13-14 in New Brunswick's State Theatre. The season opener features a world premiere by Kirk Peterson, company premieres by Mark Godden and Lustig. Ballerina Kyra Nichols guests. On October 29, NJPAC hosts Taiwan's fabulous * Cloud Gate Dance Theatre at the Prudential, followed by * Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in the Victoria Theater November 3-5.

U.S.--Chicago Special Traveling Show

* Birmingham Royal Ballet completes its American debut at New York's City Center October 1, then opens at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre to run from October 4-7 with a full-length ballet, Edward II by David Bintley, and a program called Jazz Triple (Balanchine's Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, The Shakespeare Suite with Duke Ellington's music, and the company's well-known Nutcracker Sweeties). Tickets $23-$53 at [phone].

U.S.--West Director Debuts With a Premiere

* Ballet Arizona opens under its new artistic director Ib Andersen with Autumn Repertory October 13-15 at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix, including Balanchine's 1934 work, Serenade. Set to Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, the ballet was Balanchine's first work created in the United States. Sharing the bill is Paul Taylor's rousing Company B. Andersen premieres his first creation for Ballet Arizona titled Prokofiev's Waltzes.

U.S.--San Francisco/ East Bay Area Recommended by dance critic Rita Felciano

* Hip Hop. Even though the Bay Area was not in the vanguard of developing a distinct hip-hop style, audiences and dancers have embraced it with a vengeance. Both the increasingly influential homegrown and the imported version are returning to Theater Artaud. First * Rennie Harris PureMovement will bring his Rome and Jewels for a two week run. A month later the second annual * San Francisco Hip Hop Dance Festival returns to feature amateur as well as professional groups. Last year these concerts were sold out 110 percent, with an audience that included grandparents, grade school kids and everyone in between. * Rennie Harris PureMovement, October 11-22. * SF Hip Hop Dance Festival, November 16-19, Theater Artaud, [phone].

* Lines Contemporary Ballet. At press time, no program had been announced. But whatever it will be--one premiere is for certain, a second one a maybe--Lines is a sure bet. Choreographer Alonzo King has been become increasingly secure in expanding his protean vision of ballet as a contemporary language and not even the fact that the company soon will be homeless has derailed its trajectory. Lines has started to commission work from within its own ranks; it also features an exceptional group of male dancers to partner its terrifically individualized women. Lines Contemporary Ballet. October 20-29, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco. Call (415) 978-ARTS.

Deseos Desnudos (Naked Wishes) is the latest project of former Contraband and Dance Brigade member * Kim Epifano, who used those apprenticeship years to hone her skills as an instrumentalist, singer and choreographer. Each of her works has a distinct look painstakingly developed out of the material at hand. Inspired by Tibetan music and that people's struggle for freedom, Deseos is a collaboration with Paralelo 32, a five-member dance company from the border region of Mexico, women who in many ways also are exiles in their own country. ODC/Theater, October 12-14, [phone].

* Yaelisa and Caminos Flamencos and * Tardeadas. Last winter Caminos Flamencos presented a series of monthly concerts showing work in progress as part of its residency at ODC. Yaelisa takes an astringent, quasi-feminist approach to flamenco; the concerts, in a cafe setting, were a smash success. Watching and listening to flamenco in an environment in which performers and audiences practically touch each other is close to ideal. So this fall the company resumes these informal early Sunday evening concerts. They are preceded in the afternoon by Tardeadas during which Zenon Barron is presenting Mexican folklorico groups in a similar format. ODC/Theater, October 15, November 19. [phone].

New Ballet, anyone? Those anxious to know whether ballet might find the answer with * Lawrence Pech Dance and * Diablo Ballet. Both companies forgo the tried and true, Pech's with programs of all world premieres, Diablo with a mix of recent rep and new work. The most promising Pech commission went to the fast-rising Julia Adam, whose flight these days seems to go one way only: up, and fast at that. Sharing the program will be Pech, Cynthia Pepper and Val Caniparoli. Diablo's offering includes premieres by KT Nelson (her fifth for Diablo), Christopher Stowell (his third) and Nicholas Kabaniev. Balanchine's Harlequinade completes that San Francisco-Oakland East Bay schedule. Lawrence Pech Dance Company, November 9-12. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater. (415) 978-ARTS. Diablo Ballet, Nov. 24 and 25. Dean Lesher Center for the Arts. Walnut Creek. (925) 943-SHOW.

* Tree: Part 2 of the Geography Trilogy. This is the only West Coast performance of Watt's Artist-in-Residence Ralph Lemon's collaboration with US-born artists and some from Ghana, India, China, Japan, Taiwan. If preview performances are any indication, Tree is a symphonically constructed dance theater work in which individual voices are clearly sounded even as they find place within an integrated ensemble. The piece, which purports to be about the search for common ground, grew out of Lemon's encounters with Asian artists as he traveled the continent looking for traces of the Buddha. October 12-14, Yerba Center for the Arts. 415-978-ARTS.

U.S.--Northwest Recommended by dance critic Martha Ullman West

See this performance by * Eugene Ballet or * Ballet Idaho, October 28-29 Hult Center, Eugene, Oregon [phone]; November 4-5, Morrison Center, Boise, Idaho [phone]. Swan Lake, with a charming set designed by Peter Dean Beck and costumes by Lynn Bowers and Amy Panganiban, starts this dual-resident company's twenty-third season on an impeccably classical note. Staged in 1994 by Louis Godfrey and Denise Schultze, it is the only complete version of the Tchaikowsky-Petipa classic to originate in Oregon. Artistic director Toni Pimble is known increasingly for her innovative neoclassical choreography and her collaborations with musicians and visual artists, so why Swan Lake? Because she can do it well.

* Trisha Brown Company, September 21-23, Lincoln Hall Auditorium, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, [phone]. White Bird Presents joins with the School of Fine and Performing Arts to return dance to Portland State University at last with a special series of four concerts starting with Brown's superb company. Brown, a Pacific Northwest native, has a special place in the affections of Portland's modern dance community--she has been here several times with her idiosyncratic brand of highly physical, cerebrally originated choreography. Now in her early sixties, she is one of the great ones: always exploring, always posing the "what if. Also on the PSU series: * Night, Day, and the Golden Hour, dances by Teresa Mathern, October 13-15, Lincoln Performance Hall [phone]. Once a faculty member in PSU's late dance department, Mathern returned from New York several years ago and the city's contemporary dance scene is much better for it. A core artist at Conduit Studio since last February, she has been working with Minh Tran and Portland dancers Jae Diego, Jenn Gierada, and Rhonda Summer to develop these concerts. Soloist * Margie Gillis appears later in White Bird's season (December).

* Sydney Dance Company, October 24, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, Oregon; 503 245-1600; October 26-28, Meany Theater, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington [phone] or 1 [phone]. White Bird presents this experienced, innovative Australian company in Portland for the first time and two days later the University of Washington kicks off its comprehensive World Dance Series with the same work. Under the directorship of Graeme Murphy since 1976, the influential Sydney company presents Salome, an evening- length work based on Oscar Wilde's decadent treatment of the biblical tale of Salome and John the Baptist. The Australian press loved it: "This ancient story of power and lust ... is told in spectacular style with striking choreographic motifs and seductive music [a commissioned score by Michael Askill]."

* Vancouver International Dance Festival 2000, October 24 through November 11 at Performance Works, Granville, [phone]. For this highly international Pacific Rim city's first international festival of dance, host Kokoro Dance has chosen to focus on companies from Japan, Canada and Hawaii that perform or are heavily influenced by the powerful avant garde Japanese aesthetic developed by Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno in the late 1950s, a post Hiroshima-Nagasaki phenomenon and for some viewers so culturally specific it does not translate well. For the two-week period of the festival audiences will be privy to performances, workshops and lecture demonstrations, including screenings of archival films of Hijikata's early work not seen before in Canada.

* Pacific Northwest Ballet, November 9 to 12, 16-19, Seattle Opera House, Seattle, Washington, [phone]. Expect highly vigorous dancing in the first repertory show of PNB's 2000-2001 season especially in William Forsythe's non-stop floor-burning In the middle somewhat elevated, a challenging work that had the audience on its feet when it premiered with the company last season. Also on this Encore program are the technique-breaking Balanchine Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, once described by William Clifford as requiring the dancers to do every classical step twice as fast as usual; Kent Stowell's amusingly jazzy Dumbarton Oaks and Balanchine's mysterious, uncharacteristically psychological work, La Valse, set to the Ravel score European historian Carl Schorske has said expresses the death of pre-WWI civilization.

Great Northern Bonus Anchorage Concert Association brings * White Oak Dance Project's PASTforward to Discovery Theatre in the Alaska Center for Performing Arts October 3-7. Contact [phone].

U.S.--Washington, D.C. Hometown Choice

* The Washington Ballet presents its Jazz/Blues Project: Dancing with America's Musical Traditions, previewing October 11 and running October 12 through October 15 at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Terrace Theater. World premieres by Lila York, Val Caniparoli, Trey McIntyre, and Artistic Director Septime Webre. Tickets are $32 at the box office or call [phone].

United Kingdom Recommended by Donald Hutera, Time Out--London

* Birmingham Royal Ballet: The regal northerners of British ballet return from their U.S. tour with a clutch of Ashton revivals. Dante Sonata, a barefoot struggle between good and evil, hasn't been seen in decades. The emotionally deep Edwardian domesticity of Enigma Variations is Ashton at his warmest and most English. Scenes de Ballet, Divertissements, and the unabashedly sentimental The Two Pigeons round out an excellent program. Theatre Royal, October 17-November 1; Empire Theatre, Sunderland, October 24-28; Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, October 31-November 4.

* Dance Umbrella: London's premier international contemporary dance festival kicks off with * Ballet Preljocaj's Orwellian interpretation of Romeo and Juliet October 3-7. A special dance/technology week features * Merce Cunningham's BIPED October 10-14 and prolific young Wayne McGregor's Trilogy Installation is on October 12-15. Britain's queen of post-modern movement, Siobhan Davies, unveils a new work October 18-21. Japanese cult figure Saburo Teshigawara's Absolute Zero October 27-28, and the sensational young soloist Akram Khan October 26-28. Trisha Brown wraps things up November 3-4, after which her company embarks on a short UK tour. For more information, www.danceumbrella.co.uk.

* Royal Ballet: Anthony Dowell's final season as company director spotlights works and choreographies with which he's been closely associated. Swan Lake, with designs by Yolanda Sonnabend, was his first production as head honcho in 1987. Ashton is high-profile with revivals of Ondine, La Valse, the masterly Symphonic Variations, and the smash hit, Marguerite and Armand. Antony Tudor is represented by both Lilac Garden (last revived in 1968) and Shadowplay, and MacMillan by the elegaic Gloria. Michael Corder premieres a new one-act to music by Richard Rodney Bennett. Season runs October 20-December 30.

* Scottish Ballet: On the heels of company artistic director Robert North's restaging of his Romeo and Juliet comes Robert Cohan's world premiere Aladdin. Expect loads of special effects--flying carpets, vanishing villains and genies--vying for attention with spirited dancing. And with Lez (Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake) Brotherston doing the sets, it's bound to be a visual treat. Romeo and Juliet, Edinburgh Festival Theatre October 4-7, and Inverness Eden Court Theatre October 12-14, Aladdin, Edinburgh Festival Theatre December 20-30.

Germany, Austria, Switzerland Recommended by dance critic Horst Koegler

GERMANY

Baden-Baden At its new ambitious Festspielhaus, the idyllic spa at the edge of the Black Forest offers various ballet seasons during the year. The newest started with performances by the three companies of the Netherlands Dance Theatre in June, continuing in the autumn with three performances by the * Bale da Cidade de Sao Paolo with Ohad Naharin's Axioma 7, Vasco Wellenkamp's Sinfonia da Requiem, and Germaine Acogny's Z (October 25, 27 and 28), followed by John Neumeier's Hamburg Ballet in A Midsummer Night's Dream (November 14 and 15) and Messiah (November 17 and 18). Call [phone]-101.

Berlin Ballet season at the * West Berlin Deutsche Oper continues with Ronald Hynd's Rosalinde/Die Fledermaus (September 28, October 5, 20 and 28) followed by an all Jiri Kylian program (Stamping Ground, Return to a Foreign Country and Symphony in D, November 3, 9 and 22, December 1 and 7). Call (0049) 30/343-8401 for tickets.

Ballet company of * East Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden goes classical for opening of new season with repertory performances of Uwe Scholz's Mozart Piano Concerto, KV 271 (Jeune homme) and Schumann's Second Symphony (October 7 and 15, December 1), and Patrice Bart's version of Swan Lake (October 27, November 3, 10, 15 and 17), before embarking on Bart's new production of Giselle (December 6, 8, 15, 18 and 20). Call (0049)30/20 35 45 55 for tickets.

Hamburg John Neumeier's opera-house based * Hamburg Ballet starts with his version of Handel's Messiah (October 19, 21, 29, November 22 and 25), followed by his A Midsummer Night's Dream (October 24, 29, November 20 and 21) and his Nijinsky (October 30, November 4 and 11). First season premiere is his new production of Giselle (December 10, 12, 15 and 20). Call (0049)40/351721 for tickets.

Munich

The * Bavarian State Ballet presents John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet (October 23 and 27) and John Neumeier's Cinderella Story (twice on November 5). Saburo Teshigawara's Sacre du printemps plays November 9, 15, 20 and 25, followed by three more Romeo and Juliets (December 4, 6 and 15), with Kenneth MacMillan's Manon in its first German production on December 19 (further performances on December 20, 22 and 26). Call (0049) 89/2185 1920 for tickets.

Stuttgart

* Stuttgart Ballet starts the 2000-2001 season with guest performances in China before opening at its home theater with Marcia Haydee's celebrated production of Sleeping Beauty (October 29, November 1- 5, 9-11 and 19). First premiere will be Don Quixote, which will mark the choreographic debut of Maximiliano Guerra (after Petipa), who will also star in several performances as Basil (December 8, 10, 14, 15, 21, 23, 25, 28 and 30). Call (0049)711/202090 for tickets.

AUSTRIA

Vienna

* The State Opera Ballet's new season at the opera house includes a triple bill, made up of Hans van Manen's Adagio Hammerklavier and Black Cake plus Renato Zanella's Beethoven Opus 73 (October 10, 27, 30 and November 1), after which comes Zanella's full-length Aschenbrodel (German for Cinderella), the ballet by Johann Strauss (December 23, 26, 29, 30 and January 4). Call (0043)1/514 44 2501 for tickets.

SWITZERLAND

Zurich

Heinz Spoerli's * Zurich Ballet continues its season at the opera house with his new Nutcracker, announced for November 19 (further performances on November 24 and 26, December 2, 7 and 8). Call (0041)1-268-66-66 for tickets.

China--Hong Kong and Mainland Reported by Kevin Ng

* National Ballet of China completes its Hong Kong run of The Nutcracker and La Sylphide just prior to Fall Preview time, then continues on its international tour. Spectacular settings and dancing.

Utah's Ballet West performs as part of the * Sixth National China Arts Festival--the only North American company represented at this year's event. The company also performs in Nanjing, Yangzhou, Changzhou, Wuxi, and Sozhou.