Back to the U.S.S.R. : Dance: Bolshoi’s Andris Liepa sets two precedents: After a sudden departure from American Ballet Theatre, he’s returning to Russia--not to the Bolshoi, but to the rival Kirov.

In one stunning leap, Andris Liepa has altered the phenomenon of Russian dancers exiting to the West.

The blond Bolshoi dancer, who was allowed to leave the Soviet Union in 1988 and has since become an American Ballet Theatre luminary, abruptly left the New York-based company last week. And where did he depart for? The Soviet Union, of all places.

But not Moscow, home of the mighty Bolshoi. For Liepa, the irresistible lure was to Leningrad’s Kirov Ballet.

Reached there by telephone, he said that he was “fired” by ABT director Jane Hermann “because I came two days late to rehearsal” for the 50th anniversary gala Jan. 14 in New York. Hermann acknowledged that Liepa was bounced from the pricey, four-hour extravaganza but said that he subsequently left the company by mutual agreement.

Liepa, who just renewed his contract with ABT in November, said that he had been in Italy just before the gala--with Hermann’s approval. “There was no need for me to be in New York earlier for this tiny number (in the gala),” he said. “I came back on Jan. 9 from Milan, where I had just danced ‘Giselle’ with Carla Fracci. And she didn’t arrive to rehearse her part until the next day.

“But I was treated unfairly--they told me I could not dance in the gala. And if Jane really wanted me in the company she would have scheduled more than a little appearance (a pas de deux excerpt from the “The Sleeping Beauty”). I begged her to give me more. In fact, it was because she began sounding vague about some of the roles already promised to me--Tudor’s ‘Jardin aux Lilas’ and ‘The Leaves Are Fading’--that I started looking for other opportunities.

“My wish was to dance with Ballet Theatre a second season, especially since the (Soviet) minister of culture approved my staying through the end of 1990,” said Liepa, who appeared with ABT at the Shrine Auditorium last spring.

Hermann, speaking from her ABT office in Manhattan, denied having an unhappy encounter with Liepa and justified barring him from performing in the gala:

“We had an amicable parting,” she said, referring to the cancellation of Liepa’s contract at ABT. “But since Andris never called to say he would be missing the first rehearsal, I had to assign someone else. I didn’t know where he was or whether he would show up. Fracci had already gotten our approval for her late arrival. He had not.”

The director, for the time being, wields both administrative and artistic control of the company. Mikhail Baryshnikov resigned in a huff following a dispute with her and the ABT board last September. Hermann said that Liepa’s guest engagements elsewhere precluded his day-to-day integration into the general rehearsal process.

“He signed up for a year,” said Hermann, “with the understanding that he would be on the scene throughout that period.” She went on to cite the fairly full agenda he now carries, including engagements in Europe and the Soviet Union.

Liepa, when asked why he thought himself to be out of favor with the new director, said: “She wants to show her strength and power in the artistic area. And I was maybe a test case.”

While many Russian dancers are freely seeking career opportunities in the West these days, Liepa’s was the first officially sanctioned leave of absence from the Soviet Union. In October, 1988, he obtained permission from the Bolshoi, the minister of culture and Gosconcert (the Soviet tour agency) to appear at an annual faculty program at UC Irvine. A month later, Liepa signed a one-year contract with ABT.

Now, the 28-year-old son of the late Bolshoi star Maris Liepa, is being courted by his alma mater’s rival: the Kirov Ballet.

“And when an impresario in my homeland could offer me more than Jane Hermann did, I had to listen. It became clear that she had very few plans for me, so I started looking around.”

One of the offers came from Oleg Vinogradov, whose Kirov Ballet is currently in need of additional stellar male dancers. It was this past summer when Liepa--sidelined by an injury and languishing in New York--attended the Soviet company’s performances at the Met and was introduced to the Kirov director.

Vinogradov offered Liepa a part in a Nijinsky gala and “Giselle,” which Liepa performed with the Kirov in December. Scheduled next month is a new staging of “Petrushka.” To entice him next year, Vinogradov is making plans to stage the same Tudor ballets the dancer had hoped to perform with ABT: “Jardin” and “Leaves.”

Appearing for the first time on the Kirov stage last month “was very exciting,” said Liepa, who sidestepped questions about his partnership with Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s daughter-in-law, Julia Moon, who made a controversial debut at the Kirov as Giselle last month.

Rather, he said that the main interest of his debut there centered on the fact that he is the first Bolshoi dancer to make such a switch. Others have migrated from the Kirov to the Bolshoi but not vice versa.

Will this show of disloyalty affect his status next year when he presumably returns to the Bolshoi?

“I don’t think so,” Liepa answered. “With so many dancers leaving the country everybody is glad to see that some of us come back. My case is a hopeful sign.”

However, he admitted to a certain satisfaction with his fine treatment at the Kirov. It will set an example for the Bolshoi to follow. And with that might come vindication for the sad, final days Maris Liepa spent--banished for his artistic differences with the Bolshoi management from the company he brought fame to in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Since the night of the ABT gala, when Andris Liepa himself felt banished from the stage, he said there’s not been an unhappy moment. His absence that night was duly noted.

“The morning after, my phone kept ringing. Paris Opera Ballet invited me for two ‘Swan Lakes’ in April. Peter Schaufuss called for dates with the English National Ballet. And Fracci wants me at La Scala as permanent guest artist for 10 performances a year.

“I even told Jane Hermann I would come as a guest to Ballet Theatre and she said ‘fine’. . . . Who knows what she thought.”

On Feb. 23 Liepa will dance “Petrushka” at the Kirov.

“I’m ecstatic,” he said.

“He must pursue what he likes,” Hermann responded. “Time’s winged chariot. I have no ill will.”