Ballet

Bill Kelbe is pushing. Pushing to keep his legs straight and his arms steady, pushing to make his reluctant body move in ways it doesn't want to go. His actions at the barre may not flow like the smooth, seamless moves of a practiced professional, but they're impressive for a dead man. That is, for a man who's supposed to be dead.Nearly two years ago, Mr. Kelbe was driving with a friend to Sarasota, Fla., when a two-car collision left him brain-injured and in a coma.He was 21 and one month away from performing his first major role with Ballet Florida.

THE MARYLAND BALLET opened its lavish new production of the holiday classic, "The Nutcracker" last Thursday evening at the Lyric Opera House and Baltimore loved it. (There has been such demand for tickets that more performances have been added; the show runs through Dec. 22.)Opening nighters included Dr. Dan Kane, executive director of the Maryland Ballet, and Phillip Carman, artistic director -- two men who have worked long and hard to make the Maryland Ballet a reality. And what a beautiful reality, thanks to the generosity of underwriters such as attorney Gordon Feinblatt, the H. Gladding Foundation and WJZ-TV.

ISLAND HEIGHTS, N.J. - Not long ago, my wife and I attended an evening ballet performance of The Sleeping Beauty at one of America's renowned theaters. The audience was standing-room only, elegantly dressed and tastefully enthusiastic about the performance. Why, then, did it seem we'd emerged from a race-biker's stopover? It began during intermission after Act I. "Let's have some champagne," I suggested. "Love to," my wife responded. The attendant poured our champagne into fluted glasses and I passed over a $20 bill.

Pamela Lauer may not be making a million teaching children ballet, but she gets a feeling that makes her feel like a million when students get excited learning how to dance."

Wendy Robinson, 53, a ballet teacher who became a fixture i the Baltimore dance community during the last 15 years, died Saturday in her home in Mount Washington after a long struggle with cancer.Ms. Robinson, who most recently worked on the dance faculty of the Peabody Preparatory Division of the Peabody Institute, was known for her wit and warmth in the classroom and her indepth knowledge of the British method of classical ballet, known as the Royal Academy of Dancing, which she learned in her native England.

Devotees of the Maryland Ballet may not recognize the company when the curtain comes up on "The Nutcracker" Thursday night. And with good reason -- the troupe they remember is not the one they'll be seeing.Company officials, busy dreaming up a bigger and better production of this seasonal favorite, have imported more than a dozen ballet stars, appropriated a full orchestra, grand staging and the period ambience of the Lyric Opera House in hopes of sending audiences home believing in sugar plum fairies.

At first glance, their choices seemed to go against the choreographic grain. Jennifer Muller, a modern dance choreographer, selected a ballet company to work with during a two-week dance residency here, while ballet choreographer Lisa deRibere picked a modern company.But conversations with these two women, whose work will be featured Saturday at the Maryland Dance Showcase during Artscape '91, just prove that dance and dance creators are never static, and often defy categorization.tTC "There seems to be a trend for modern choreographers to want to work with ballet companies," Ms. deRibere said, "but I wanted to do something that I hadn't done before: I wanted to get away from classical technique and get down on the floor."

Wendy Robinson, who taught classical ballet in the Preparatory Division of the Peabody Institute, died Saturday of cancer at her home in Mount Washington.She was 53.Ms. Robinson joined the Peabody faculty in 1985.For nine years before that she had directed the Baltimore Ballet School, originally the Maryland Ballet School.She used the Royal Academy of Dancing training method and supervised courses at Peabody for ballet teachers who wanted to use the method.Robert Pierce, Peabody director, said yesterday, "Few teachers in our experience have given more of their life, love and ability to their students."

The Maryland Ballet, which has canceled half its current subscription series because of financial troubles, announced yesterday it is establishing a residency at Loyola College that will begin next month with three performances at the college's McManus Theatre.The troupe will also stage its entire 1991-'92 subscription series at McManus, which Loyola is providing free of charge, company and college officials said.The move from the Baltimore Museum of Art's Meyerhoff Auditorium, the ballet's previous home, to McManus will save the company about $20,000 for its May 10-12 performances and about three times that much next year in rental and staging costs, the ballet's acting executive director, Daniel Kane, said.

The premiere ballet company of Japan, the Matsuyama Ballet, spectacularly opened its one-week engagement at the Kennedy Center last evening with the full-length work "Mandala" by the company's choreographer and principal dancer, Tetsutaro Shimizu.This production is opulent and riveting. From the beautiful muted-hued and gold-patinaed sets, to the lavish costuming and the dramatic and sweeping score by Yoshiro Kanno, the ballet overflows with dynamic and vivid imagery and first-rate performances.