Peter

By Martha Duffy

It has been four years since Peter Martins took over leadership of the New York City Ballet from the dying George Balanchine. To the dance world the question at the time was Can the company survive for long? City Ballet was unique among the world's major troupes in that it was nourished each season by new works from a choreographic genius who also attended to every detail of preparation and casting, every peplum and epaulet, even the banners outside the theater.

Could any successor equal Mr. B.? Alas, no. But Martins can take considerable satisfaction in several things. The company is dancing well, often marvelously. The box office is up, with the house more than 90% full. Also, it turns out, Balanchine was wrong when he predicted everything would change when he left; not much has so far. And Martins has just unveiled a minor triumph of his own: a 25-minute ballet called Les Petits Riens (Little Nothings), set to Mozart and performed elegantly by eight very youthful corps de ballet members. In his reticent way, Martins was bragging: You think things are good now? Well, look at what I have up my sleeve.

The dancers are like fragile 18th century porcelain figures, the young women in Barbara Matera's exceptionally pretty tutus. But there is nothing delicate about the work Martins set them. His choreography tends to be difficult and full of steps; Les Petits Riens, with its big, complicated moves and witchy shifts in direction, is no exception. But the performers' aplomb made the details flow together and the ballet seem like a lyrical visualization of Mozart.

All the dancers, who range in age from 19 to 23, were delightful, but the standouts were Margaret Tracey, 19, who joined the company only eight months ago, and her partner, Jeffrey Edwards, 22, a veteran of not quite two years. The world of Fragonard may never have existed, but these two created it in their performance, Tracey with her perfect placement and polished gaiety of manner, Edwards with his ardor and already superior partnering.

As a choreographer, Martins has been quietly moving along classical lines. Not for him the currently fashionable crosscutting of ballet with jazz and modern elements. At his best -- in such works as Les Petits Riens, Calcium Light Night, Concerto for Two Solo Pianos, Eight Easy Pieces -- he is an agile craftsman with some surprising moves and a dry, idiosyncratic drollery. At other times he can be boring and even awkward, uneasy in filling the stage and expanding it. Premiering on the same bill as Les Petits Riens was a futile exercise called Ecstatic Orange, set to a bombinating neo-Stravinsky score by Michael Torke.

Orange will probably fade from the repertory, and Martins, now 40, will proceed to the next work in progress. "I have to feed the dancers material and challenges, or the talent atrophies," he says. "We have more talent under this roof now than I have seen in my time here."

Where does it all come from? Martins credits the expanded audience for ballet. "Remember when everyone talked about the 'ballet boom' in the '70s? Well, it's permanent." He praises the N.Y.C.B.'s affiliated School of American Ballet, its national recruiting staff and its faculty, singling out his own mentor, Stanley Williams. "Stanley modeled those little muscles to look that way," he says of his Petits Riens cast. "It's a long, endless process, a quality of movement, an attention to detail." But the dancers know Williams is not the only one who cares about details. Says Martins: "Balanchine and I liked the same things -- big movements, lots of energy and precision. But I think I put more emphasis on precision."

Martins is making the organization, as well as the dancers, work his way. Several departments have changed hands. Martins does all the casting, not to everyone's approval. He envisions an ideal in which every dancer can take every part, and there are those who think that in pursuing this goal he too often casts against type.

And then he schemes -- an important activity for a company director. The year 1992 stirs his imagination: What can he do about Columbus? Another quandary: How to get the troupe to Vienna so he can knock their socks off with a homage to the city featuring ballets set to Mozart, Strauss, Webern, Berg and others? Although the details are not yet final, City Ballet's next gala attraction will be a festival of American music in 1988.

Martins boasts that there are "no drugs, no anorexia here. I'm not interested in unhealthy, skinny dancers." Sometimes he sounds like Mr. B. when he talks about wanting performers whose "purpose in life is clear-cut and strong." For himself, he sighs a little. "My life is one big 'being around.' Rehearsing, fund raising, administering a $21.5 million budget. I don't like the fact that I've aged ten years in two, that I have no private life. But I believe in all this." He pauses and adds, "I guess I've decided to spend my life here."