MICHAEL KAISER HITS THE GROUND RUNNING.

Michael Kaiser's reign at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts began in February, but even before the month was up those marble halls lost their mausoleum pallor. The Center's new president unveiled plans that ranged from booking some of Britian's brightest to a ten-year deal with Russia's Kirov/Maryinsky Theater.

The Kennedy Center's Kirov decade begins in February 2002. The famed St. Petersburg institution is to send at least a week of ballet and a week of opera to Washington, D.C., every year. Funding comes from Alberto Vilar, who made a fortune in technology stocks and donated $50 million to the Kennedy Center. The money will also fund a new institute to train performing-arts managers.

But that's not the only international focus. A festival called "UK/KC" will bring British arts to the Kennedy Center. This month Random Dance Company, a contemporary troupe from London, performs on its own, and then in a collaboration with Britain's Royal Ballet--which sounds like David dancing with Goliath. The giant company from London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, can also be seen by itself in two bills of Frederick Ashton choreography.

The Kennedy Center's upcoming season will also feature eight weeks of ballet and seven companies -- Suzanne Farrell Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, American Ballet Theatre, the Kirov, and the Bolshoi Ballet. There's also the modern lineup: Lyon Opera Ballet, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, Bill T. Jones, Shen Wei, Ronald K. Brown, Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Australia's Chunky Move, and Anna Halprin collaborating with Eiko & Koma. Listed as kickoff for the moderns are the balletic skaters of Next Ice Age. On the ethnic dance agenda are Australia's Bangarra Dance Theatre and a Nigerian festival.

Much of the season was planned before Kaiser's arrival. But his style shows throughout, especially the emphasis in ballet on glamour rather than regional representation. Kaiser's answer to the public demand for classics in the face of the small number of famous old ballets in existence is, "Stars." He believes name casting and well-known companies sell performances. A different sort of Kaiser touch is the Random/Royal collaboration--an experiment first tried in London during Kaiser's tenure as Covent Garden director.

Interviewed for Dance Magazine, the Kennedy Center's new director was a forceful optimist. Few problems faze him. For example, he doesn't consider the aging of America's classical performing arts audience an obstacle. "The older population isn't going away," he says, "it's growing larger, has more free time and disposable income."

That's not to say he's against new work: Kennedy Center commissions can be expected to continue, and Kaiser says he'll respect the Center's obligation to companies that are its official constituents. He points out that both the National Symphony and the Washington Opera are center residents, but only the former is a component organization. The Center's loyalty to its own implies that the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, which isn't an official constituent but does enjoy Kennedy Center backing as a "project," requires a commitment--presumably of financial sponsorship and presentation--that a renter, such as the Washington Ballet, doesn't. Washington Ballet has, on some years, been part of the Center's subscription series, but is not included in the 2001-2002 offerings. Naturally, people remember Fredric Franklin's statement about the 1974 demise of D.C.'s National Ballet, which he directed with Ben Stevenson. What bled the company to death, said Franklin, was having to rent the Kennedy Center instead of being presented by it. Back then, competition was seen as dividing the audience. Times have changed, though. Rivalry can help build an audience. This is something that Kaiser, who is pitting the Kirov against the Bolshoi, knows a lot about.