DANCE / EILEEN SONDAK : Post-Dancing Steps Took Her Farther Than Most

Dancers often move on to choreography when their dancing days are over. Some even get the chance to direct their own shows, if they’re talented and lucky. But former Bob Fosse dancer Roxanne M. Captor, a veteran of the Harkness Ballet and Bejart’s Ballet of the Twentieth Century, went even farther afield than that. In fact, Captor has made her mark in just about every area of show business.

“I produced a one-hour TV special based on my own story treatment,” she said in a recent interview in San Diego. “It’s called ‘Home Sweet Homeless,’ and it was inspired by a real person. I’ll be going into production on two CBS movies of the week soon, and I’m developing a feature film based on my experience as a Harkness dancer.

“Bob Fosse and I were working on it together right before he died,” she said. “Now I’m more determined than ever to make it happen. It’s my baby, and I want to complete it in his honor.”

Captor has several movie credits, including Francis Ford Coppola’s “One From the Heart,” and is the creator of a do-it-yourself home video on tap, jazz and ballroom dancing.

“It’s for people who want to learn how to dance,” she said, “and I use the original clips from Ted Turner’s library in the video.”

With all those accomplishments under her belt, and a slew of others whirling around in her head, what is Captor doing in San Diego designing dances for the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s annual staging of “A Christmas Carol”?

“There are only two main dances in the show,” she said. “But I had heard a lot of good things about the Rep, and it was the prospect of working in the theater that attracted me. If there’s a project I really want to do, or a theater I really want to work at, then I go. They’re doing very interesting work here. They’re taking risks, and that’s exciting to me.”

Though there are few risks involved in this traditional staging of the Dickens classic, Captor immersed herself in the project with her typical intensity and zeal.

“I did a lot of research on the period and found out that the popular dance was the reel,” she said. “The waltz was just coming into its own, so there’s a soft, quiet waltz and some lively, up-tempo country dancing, too. I even choreographed the bows for the actors.

“This production is more theatrical than any of the others,” she said. “And it has a new original score by the composer of ‘Red Noses,’ so it is really quite different from past productions.”

If you look carefully, you’ll see some quintessential Fosse signature moves in Captor’s choreography, particularly in the supplicating hands for the beggars. But most of her mentor’s influence is too subtle to detect.

“Fosse taught me the importance of precision in everything you do, but I tried to develop my own talent, not to imitate his style,” she said. “The choreography should heighten the look the director wants, and Doug Jacobs wants to keep this very Dickens in style.”

Now that the show is under way, Captor is back in Los Angeles to complete her unfinished projects, but she isn’t closing the door on her San Diego connection.

“We’ve been talking about other projects--directing and choreographing,” she said. “I’d like to direct ‘Street Scene,’ and I’d really like to do a musical version of ‘Waiting for Godot’ or ‘She Stoops to Conquer.’ ”

In the meantime, you’ll have to settle for something a lot less radical if you want to sample Captor’s wares. The Rep’s production of “A Christmas Carol”--its 13th staging of this popular holiday treat--will continue at the Lyceum through Christmas Eve.

The “Nutcracker” season moves into high gear this weekend, with two of the city’s most active ballet troupe’s (California Ballet and American Ballet Ensemble) offering another series of performances in downtown venues. Cal Ballet dances at the Civic Theatre, while ABE continues its final weekend at City College.

A scaled-down version by the North Coast Ballet will be unveiled at Mandeville Auditorium on Dec. 17-18, followed Dec. 20-23 by New West Ballet Theatre’s “Nutcracker” in North County’s El Camino High School. All the local “Nutcrackers” will go back into mothballs by Christmas Eve.

While the latest crop of dancers from the American Ballet School are performing in downtown San Diego, several alumni are showing up all over the place. Jim Bass has signed on with Joffrey’s second company in New York. Laura Taber, another former ABS principal, danced in the Eglevsky Ballet’s “Nutcracker” on Long Island this season, and Linda Bennett is dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy for a ballet school production in Alabama.

Three’s Company has had a de facto changing of the guard for at least a year, but this week the troupe’s board of directors has made it official.

In the future, the artistic direction will be left to founding member Jean Isaacs and her kindred spirit, Nancy McCaleb--now named associate artistic director.

Betzi Roe and Patrick Nollet will dance on with the company, and Roe will even continue to choreograph, but neither of these Three’s Company originals will play an active role in the troupe’s artistic direction.

“Our board just felt we should reflect what’s really going on in the company now,” Isaacs said. “That’s why we made the official announcement.”

The San Diego Area Dance Alliance will hold its annual membership meeting Jan. 29 at 3 p.m. at a location to be announced. Victoria Hamilton, executive director of the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, will be the guest speaker. For more information, call 692-4350.