1990 ORANGE COUNTY : Depth of Commitment to Be Measured : DANCE

Major national and international ballet companies have drawn impressive numbers of people to the Performing Arts Center, but local dance companies remain small-scale and struggling. For them, wide-spread success in the ‘90s seems a far-off dream.

“Very few communities have addressed the problem of where dancers and small theater companies can work,” says Gloria Newman, artistic director of the oldest and most respected modern dance troupe in the county. “I can’t see (local dance) growing without that kind of support.”

Don Bradburn, artistic director of concerts at UC Irvine and artistic co-director of the fledgling California Theatre Ballet, feels that the interest in the major dance companies will “in the long run probably benefit all the local and smaller companies.”

But he acknowledges that it is “going to be a while before Orange County goes beyond the ‘major ballet company’ syndrome.”

“We still do not get to see a lot of the major (modern dance) groups that are working internationally, or the East Coast groups. That is bad for local choreographers. They can’t see the current ferment of ideas and feelings. It is bad for dancers, too.”

Agreed Molly Lynch, artistic director of Ballet Pacifica in Laguna Beach: “I think it’s wonderful to have the classics, but I think we do need to be out seeing the works of today. It is important for us to be nurturing our American choreographers and the choreographers of the future.”