Australian Ballet Lists O.C. Program : Dance: “Giselle” will top its Performing Arts Center appearance in August as part of the group’s first U.S. tour in 14 years.

NEW YORK —  Australian Ballet artistic director Maina Gielgud has outlined current repertory plans for the company’s Aug. 7 through 12 engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, part of its first tour of the United States in 14 years.

Gielgud’s 1986 staging of “Giselle” will share one program with Serge Lifar’s “Suite en blanc” (music by Lalo), a virtuoso display piece choreographed in 1943 for the Paris Opera Ballet.

For “Giselle,” Gielgud drew on her memories of being coached in the ballet by Anton Dolin. She says that she “stressed the importance of the Romantic style and aimed for a traditional staging because I’d been brought up with a traditional approach.”

“Suite en blanc” was set on the Australian Ballet by Lifar shortly before Gielgud assumed her position in 1983, and she has revived it. It is a ballet she performed often during her two-decade career; she danced with the companies of Roland Petit, the Marquis de Cuervas and Maurice Bejart before becoming a principal artist with the London Festival Ballet in 1972-75.

“It has proved to be a very good display piece for the company,” she said. “It suits them very well.”

A second program in Orange County will be a triple bill for which the works have not been set. Gielgud said she may decide to include a new ballet, depending on the success of several upcoming premieres during the company’s 1990 season.

In New York and Washington the company will present the first U.S. performances of a version of “Spartacus” by Hungarian choreographer Laszlo Seregyi. This version premiered in 1968 in Hungary and has been a repertory staple of the Australian Ballet since the late 1970s.

But Gielgud explained that because the Bolshoi Ballet will be appearing at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles performing its Yuri Grigorovich’s “Spartacus” in July (dates have not been announced), it was decided not to bring the Seregyi production to California.

She also cited the logistical problems of transporting its sets from the District of Columbia, where the company closes on Aug. 5, in time for the Orange County performances.

The Australian Ballet, founded in 1962, includes 60 dancers, is based in Melbourne and also performs annually in other major Australian cities.

When Gielgud (niece of the celebrated British actor) took over, the company roster included mainly very young dancers, new to its ranks. She has made it a point to nurture that youthful talent toward soloist and principal status. Most of the company’s principals, she reports, are between 25 and 28.

In recent years, the Australian Ballet has toured China and Japan, London and Southeast Asia.