dance

Reading the Arts and Leisure section of the New York Times is usually a frustrating experience for dance lovers away from the city. A lot of troupes appearing in New York never make it to Boston. This weekend, however, the Loeb Drama Center and The Goethe Institute host a young German dance company, Tanz Forum Koln, in its American premier performance--in Cambridge.

Like the Boston runs of many aspiring theater productions, Tanz Forum's U.S. debut presents work that is generally unknown (in this country), and the problem with debuts is that sight unseen they are hard to predict. But Tanz Forum enjoys a reputation which growing internationally. The company has toured Europe, North Africa, Lebanon, Iran, Greece, India, Ceylon, Indonesia, Bali, Malaysia, and now the United States. And the company is only six years old.

Formed in 1970 by a few members of the Cologne Opera Ballet, Tanz Forum Koln fuses modern dance forms with the classical ballet tradition. The company's repertoire has included pieces by such wellknown choreographers as Glen Tetley, Jose Limon, Hans van Manen and Kurt Jooss. Works by Gray Veredon and Jochen Ulrich, director-choreographers of Tanz Forum Koln, dominate the performances at the Loeb this weekend, hopefully not at the expense of variety. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. $7.95, $5.95 for student rush. Call 864-2630.

The best and worst of Boston dance belongs to its own small dance community. The safe, established and pleasantly mediocre sails through each year on tour. Boston is too close to New York, or its theater space is too limited, to be included on the circuits of companies like the New York City Ballet or American Ballet Theater. The only big names visiting this year are the Jose Limon Company at Brandeis (November 5-7) and Alvin Ailey (February 18-20) and Pilobolus (November 12-14) at the B.U. Celebrity Series. The Celebrity Series often sells out early for names like these, but its concerts of lesser-known, folk-oriented troupes (Ballet Folklorico of Mexioc October 5-6, Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company March 13) are rarely full.

In addition to the Limon company, the Brandeis Expressions Series hosts Margalit Dance Theater November 12-14 and the Claude Kipnis Mime Theater November 19-21. A local train pulls out of a dungeon under Porter Square around 6:30 giving you more time than you want to see the Brandeis campus before the show. After the performance there's no train back after past 11, so take a warm blanket if it's cold.

The week-end of November 12-14 means a choice between Pilobolus, Margalit Dance Theater and the opening performances of the Boston Ballet. This first program includes Serenade, Scotch Symphony and Prodigal Son by Balanchine and Cinderella by resident choreographer Ron Cunningham. (I've never seen any of these works, but they all seem to be about kids' fairy tales.) At the Boston Ballet tickets can be expensive, and the audience overdressed, but Balanchine looks just as interesting from the balcony.

Boston has twenty or so resident modern companies, some no more than a few students from so-and-so's class, others dedicated troupes led by strong choreographers. The most original tend to be Betty Fain (October 9-10), Deborah Chassler (December 3-5) and New England Dinosaur (watch for them next spring and in the me time check out avant-garde music events at the Dinosur Annex).

Dance Collective (October 8-9, December 3-4) and Dance Circle's Dorothy Hershkowitz (January 6-8) offer more traditional style modern dance. Concert Dance Co. sticks to well-done classics, and this season will add Anna Sokolow's Session for Six to their repertoire of Doris Humphrey, Bill Evans and Phobe Neville. Good for taking a friend who's never seen modern dance.

Dudley House and the Office for the Arts are presenting a dance film series three Monday nights this fall in Boylston Auditorium. The first program is November 1 at 7:30 and includes three ballet films. Other good places to watch for dance flicks are Joy of Movement Center and the Park Street Cinema.