Grigorovich challenged as master of Bolshoi.

MOSCOW--Years after perestroika dismantled the Soviet empire and introduced a new generation of political leaders, a showdown is taking place at the Bolshoi Theater, home of Bolshoi Ballet.

The general director of the theater, Vladimir Kokonin, recently declared war on its artistic directorate for what he described as careerism and self-aggrandizement at the expense of artistic integrity.

Kokonin has abolished the positions of Yuri Vetrov and Yevgeny Raikov, who were, respectively, general director of Bolshoi Ballet and of Bolshoi Opera. And Kokonin has made it clear that he wishes to eliminate the posts of artistic director, chief choreographer, and principal ballet master, which have been held simultaneously for the past thirty years by Yuri Grigorovich. This would effectively end Grigorovich's one-man rule of Bolshoi Ballet. Kokonin also hopes to eliminate the positions of chief conductor (held by Alexander Lazarev) and chief designer (Valery Leventhal).

To achieve his aims, Kokonin has instituted a European system of employment that the Russians call colloquium. Under this system, all Bolshoi artists will be required to sign a seasonal contract, and no one will be assured of permanent status. Kokonin insists that, as general director, he has the right to appoint the Bolshoi's artistic staff. Grigorovich and the other embattled leaders, however, argue that since they were appointed directly by the government, Kokonin has no authority over them.

Russian president Boris Yeltsin has involved himself in the fray, and has issued a presidential decree concerning the Bolshoi, the substance of which was not known at press time. Yevgeni Fedorov, the Russian minister of culture, has suggested that the Russian government supports changes at the Bolshoi. Fedorov also stated that the Bolshoi has been separated officially from the ministry of culture and is now under the direct authority of Yeltsin.

While Yeltsin deliberates the Bolshoi's fate, Kokonin has taken his case to the press. On July 7, in the Moscow daily Evening Club, Kokonin affirmed that glasnost had arrived finally at the Bolshoi. He reproached Grigorovich for alleged duplicity and for a lack of artistic initiative, blaming him for keeping only half of his promise to mount new productions of Le Corsaire and Don Quixote last season. (Only Corsaire was realized and this, according to Kokonin in a version copied from Konstantin Sergeyev, to whom no credit was given.)

Reached by telephone at his home in Moscow, Grigorovich pleaded fatigue and refused to comment.

According to Konstantin Kostrayev, concertmaster of the Bolshoi Orchestra, these two premieres were considered vital because of the lack of diversity in the Bolshoi repertoire. A more up-to-date repertoire not only would please those critics who now accuse the Bolshoi of artistic stagnation but also supposedly would help to keep the company's soloists happy and would boost foreign touring, an important source of hard currency.

When Grigorovich be came chief choreographer and artistic director of Bolshoi Ballet, in 1964, the company had many choreographers, including Nina Anisimova, Leonid Jacobson, Leonid Lavrovsky, Asaf Messerer, and Rostislav Zakharov. In the process of strengthening his grip on the troupe, however, Grigorovich wiped out his competition.

These tactics left the Bolshoi with a limited repertoire consisting mostly of Grigorovich's own restaging of the classics. During his tenure as artistic director Grigorovich produced only four original creations: Legend of Love, Ivan the Terrible, Angara, and The Golden Age, all prepared in collaboration with the late scenic designer Simon Virsaladze. Grigorovich's signature works were his restagings of Jacobson's Spartacus in 1968 and of Lavrovsky's Stone Flower in 1957.

While Kirov Ballet, since glasnost, has made some effort to enrich its repertoire with the works of Western choreographers George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Antony Tudor, Bolshoi Ballet has produced only one such work, Balanchine's Prodigal Son.

In recent years Grigorovich's management has been the object of increasing criticism, and his conflicts with some of the Bolshoi's greatest stars have impoverished the company. Among those with whom Grigorovich has quarreled are Andris Liepa, Ekaterina Maximova, Irek Mukhamedov, Maya Plisetskaya, Yuri Posokhov, Gedeminas Taranda, and Vladimir Vasiliev. Plisetskaya's forth-coming memoris, excerpts of which have just appeared in Moscow newspapers, take Grigorovich sharply to task.

Furthermore, the Bolshoi continues to suffer from severe financial constraints as Russia makes the transition to a market economy. And two-thirds of a major tour of England, planned for this summer, had to be canceled because of poor ticket sales.

Speculation now abounds concerning the future of the ballet company that used to be called the "crown jewel of Soviet high art."