DANCE : Ensemble of Paris Opera Ballet Continues Nureyev’s Tradition

Tracing its origins to the age of Louis XIV, who founded the Royal Academy of Dance in 1661, the Paris Opera Ballet is the oldest dance ensemble of its kind still performing.

And as such, the company enjoys a history steeped in tradition, but that hasn’t stopped it from launching new and different work.

When it was last seen in Southern California in 1988, for instance, it danced Rudolf Nureyev’s controversial Hollywood version of “Cinderella” at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. (Nureyev took the role of the Producer, who stage-managed Cinderella’s rise as a silent-film star.)

Today through Saturday, the Paris Opera Ballet Ensemble (a 25-member touring group drawn from the company) will appear at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts and include a mix of the old and the new.

The tour is dedicated to Nureyev, the Russian dance superstar who died of AIDS complications in January, 1993. Nureyev was director of the French national ballet from 1983 to 1989 and continued as its resident choreographer until his death.

His influence in both roles was profound.

Critics credited him for rejuvenating the company by restoring its stylistic luster and refinement in the classics and broadening its repertory by inviting a range of modern choreographers to work with his dancers. Others rated his tinkering with classical ballets such as “Swan Lake,” “Nutcracker” and “The Sleeping Beauty” less charitably.

Throughout his career, he has worked to amplify the danseur’s role, as the male in 19th-Century ballets generally had an inferior importance to the prima ballerina’s. He also experimented with novel staging ideas, such as the “Nutcracker” he created for the Royal Swedish Ballet in 1967. Here, he injected dark Freudian motivations that often overpowered Tchaikovsky’s music and Marius Petipa’s and Lev Ivanov’s choreography--or what survived of it.

Even so, he made a mark by anticipating other psychological interpretations, such as Mikhail Baryshnikov’s 1976 staging for American Ballet Theatre, still televised during the Christmas season.

The programs at Cerritos will reflect his interest both in traditional and new works. The troupe will dance a range of ballets, from Anton Dolin’s 1941 re-creation of Romantic choreographer Jules Perrot’s “Pas de Quatre” from 1845 and the Danish 19th-Century choreographer August Bournonville’s 1842 “Napoli” pas de six, to the “high impact” choreography of the expatriate American William Forsythe in his 1987 creation, “In the Middle Somewhat Elevated.”

The ensemble will also perform excerpts from the Russian classics “Raymonda,” “Don Quixote” and “The Sleeping Beauty” as staged by Nureyev.

Among the dancers will be veteran stars Charles Jude, Elizabeth Platel and Isabelle Guerin as well as several up-and-coming artists such as Laurent Novis, a 29-year-old mid-ranked soloist, and Emmanuel Thibault, 20, who joined the company in 1990 and won a silver medal in this year’s Varna Competition. Jude was a onetime dance partner in various “Nureyev and Friends” tours.

* What: Paris Opera Ballet Ensemble.

* When: Today, Jan. 5, through Saturday, Jan. 7. At 8 every night.

* Where: The Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos.

* Whereabouts: Take the Artesia (91) Freeway to the Shoemaker Avenue exit and follow the signs to the center.

* Wherewithal: $40 to $65.

* Where to call: (310) 916-8500.