ITALIANS CELEBRATE THE WORK OF JIRI KYLIAN.

After a ten-year hiatus caused by a national economic recession, the city of Reggio Emilia, considered by many to be Italy's dance capital, will renew its practice of devoting an entire festival to choreography from a particular region or historical period--or to the work of one great dancemaker. This year's event, which begins June 13, will be a tribute to the Nederlands Dans Theater's Jiri Kylian.

After more than ten years, the city's weeklong festivals devoted to Martha Graham (1987) and William Forsythe (1989) are still unforgettable. The first was a retrospective celebration of the works created by the mother of American modern dance; the second, an occasion to discover a wonder boy who was revolutionizing classic traditions.

Kylian will travel to Reggio with his three companies: Nederlands Dans Theater I, for performers aged 22 to 40; NDT II, for those who are 17 to 22; and NDT III, for dancers over 40.

NDT II and III will perform (the younger and the older dancers will appear together) Compass, Indigo Rose, Six Dances, and A Way A Lone on June 15 and 16. Then on June 19 and 20, NDT I will dance No More Play, Wings of Wax, Petite Mort, Sinfonietta, Falling Angels, and Forgotten Land. Master classes, workshops, video showings, and conferences will complete the rich program.

Since the 1980s, Reggio has designed festivals that focus on a sliver of dance to explore depth rather than breadth. That the town should delve into dance so deeply is hardly surprising. At Reggio's center sits Piazza Martiri del Sette Luglio, where three theatres--the dazzling, golden Teatro Municipale Valli, the smaller, yet elegant Teatro Ariosto, and the Cavallerizza (created from the old stables)--surround a great garden and lively fountain. The very plan of the city inspires something more than simple dance seasons.

Kylian has long stayed away from this city because of sad memories. Aterballetto, the famed Reggio-based dance troupe, will open the festival on June 13 with the Italian premiere of Kylian's Heart's Labyrinth, a very special piece the choreographer created after one of his dancers killed herself in Reggio Emilia in 1986. "It was a nightmare for me," Kylian said. "Now I am out at last. And this is the way to remember her with our love."