FALL PREVIEW : Our Critics’ Guide to the Season : The Dance of Cultural Diversity

Perhaps the most ambitious event this year that embraces dance as well as other disciplines can be found at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica starting Oct. 22: “Fire in the Treasure House,” subtitled “An African-American and Asian-Pacific-American Forum for Performance and Visual Art.”

In 10 weeks of performances, exhibitions, discussions and social gatherings, members of the communities that were depicted as enemies in some accounts of the 1992 Los Angeles riots will be collaborating, interacting or just sharing evenings on stage. Most of the programs start at 8:30, most of the tickets cost $10. But call Highways, (310) 453-1755, for a schedule.

The must-see modern dance events this season include Mark Morris at UC Riverside on Oct. 6 and 7, Susan Marshall at UCLA on Oct. 9 and 10, and Bebe Miller at Irvine Barclay Theatre on Oct. 19, but pride of place belongs to Paul Taylor, arguably the greatest living choreographer working in Anglo-Euro-American dance.

Taylor’s company returns to Royce Hall, UCLA, at 8 p.m. on Nov. 13 and 14 (tickets: $20-$30) and then makes its debut in the Orange County Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m. on Nov. 28 and 29 ($13-$36). Repertory hasn’t yet been announced except for the one-act “Company B.”

World dance during this period begins with antique comic dance-drama by the Nomura Kyogen Theater of Tokyo at the Japan America Theatre at 8 p.m. on Sept. 26 and at 2 p.m. the next day. Kyogen are interludes that defy the fierce sobriety of Noh drama and satirize the preoccupations of the Japanese nobility with great charm. (Ticket prices: $30 to $35.)

Flamboyant flamenco and other specialties of the Ballet Nacional de Espana can be seen at the Orange County Performing Arts Center from Oct. 6 to 11 at 8 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees on Oct. 10 and 11. “The Three-Cornered Hat” is again featured. This is a big company, but last time around (1988), plenty of solo heat kept the foot-stomping hordes properly secondary. (Ticket prices: $14 to $48.)

In contrast, “Africa Oye” emphasizes small, supremely skillful ensembles in its survey of West and Central African traditions. Watch for it at Marsee Auditorium, El Camino College, on Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. and at 3 and 7 p.m. in Mandeville Auditorium, UC San Diego, on Nov 15. (Tickets: $18-$25 in Torrance, $12-$25 in San Diego.)

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, Ballet Folklorico de Mexico appears in several Southland engagements: Nov. 18 at OCPAC (tickets: $12-$35), Nov. 20 to 22 in Shrine Auditorium ($10-$40), Nov. 24 at Bridges Auditorium, Claremont ($24-$35), and Nov. 27 to 29 at Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego ($10-$40).

At 75, founder Amalia Hernandez remains controversial for her indomitably theatrical approach to folkloric performance--but her company may be the most influential and beloved in all the Americas. Evening performances are at 8 p.m. (except for the 7:30 curtain time on Nov. 23), matinees (on Nov. 22 and 29) at 3.

Ballet? You want ballet? Well, most companies are rehearsing for the “Nutcracker” season (and, boy, do they need it this year). Before that, you can find the exquisite Ekaterina Maximova and the heroic Vladimir Vasiliev in a “Stars of the Bolshoi” potpourri at Royce Hall on Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. Wife and husband, both are in their early 50s and, in their prime, ranked among the greatest artists of Russian ballet. (Ticket prices: $30 to $40.)

At the other extreme, Alonzo King’s youthful, San Francisco-based Lines Contemporary Ballet will dance at three Southland venues: in Mandeville Auditorium, UC San Diego (tickets: $11-$16), on Nov. 6; in Annenberg Theater, Palm Springs Desert Museum, on Nov. 7 ($20-$25), and at UC Riverside on Nov. 10 ($15-$17)--all at 8 p.m. King attracted attention at the 1989 “Black Choreographers” festival for adding a torso-driven Afro-centric impetus to the linear, pose-oriented European ballet vocabulary.

The major “Nutcracker” novelty this season: the first American performances of the Kirov Ballet version, Dec. 1 to 6 at OCPAC. Evenings at 8, plus matinees at 2 on Dec. 5 and 6. (Tickets: $14 to $55.)