DANCESCAPE.

Les Ballets de MonteCarlo is on tour in the U.S. and Canada this month. Its highly stylized production of Romeo and Juliet plays Manhattan's City Center May 12 to 16. Artistic director Jean-Christophe Maillot has aimed at a consistently simple approach, with no traditional Renaissance trappings (as one can tell from Jerome Kaplan's costumes, shown here). The troupe's other tour stops in May are Montreal (6-8), Philadelphia (20-25), and Toronto (28-30).

Harris Green

Through August 15, the New-York Historical Society salutes one of the local cultural institutions with its exhibit "Dance for a City: Fifty Years of the New York City Ballet." Costumes, scores, handbills, rare photographs, and souvenir booklets (from a private collection) will be on display. The cover of the 1961 souvenir booklet--design by Leabo, photography by William Vasillov--is at left.

Last month Columbia University Press issued a companion book of the same title, edited by Lynn Garafola with Eric Foner. Contents include a previously unpublished interview with Balanchine by Nancy Reynolds, a listing of Jerome Robbins's ballets and musicals, and dance historian Sally Banes's essay on NYCB 's relationship with modern dance.

H.G.

Peter Pucci combines his two great loves, dance and athletics, in his evening-length work in progress, Pucci: Sport, coming to the Joyce Theater next month (June 22-27). The creation of an all-American high school and college athlete (also a member of Pilobolus), Sport salutes boxing, baseball, surfing, badminton, hockey, and basketball (the section at left is called "Basketball Jones"). Currently it has a cast of twenty-three.

Bart Roth

Since its founding by Graham dancers Elisa Monte and David Brown in 1981, the Elisa Monte Dance Company has undergone a couple of name changes. It is now known as Monte/Brown Dance, to reflect the true nature of its directorship. This summer promises to be especially active. After a two-week season at the Joyce Theater (June 8-20), it performs a free concert on the Hudson River Park (July 20), appears at the Pescara (Italy) Jazz and Dance Festival (July 26), and at Weimar 99 in Europe's Culture City (July 29-August 1). It will return to these shores for fall dates in Lake Placid, New York (TBA), and Fort Collins, Colorado (November 12). Monte/Brown dancers Nadine Mose and Fabrice Lamego are shown in this studio portrait.

B.R.

The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco recently acquired this magnificent ceremonial costume of the Yoruba from Nigeria (its back is shown at right). Pieced together of overlapping strips of cotton and synthetic material and decorated with shell buttons, amulets, and tokens, the 64" by 56" robe has been built up over the years to honor ancestors and generations to come. Never actually worn, it is hung from poles to conceal the dancer, who is considered vulnerable when communing with the spirit world. The Yoruba believe the movement of the fabric creates "the breeze of blessing."

Rita Felciano