2 Kirov Principal Dancers Won’t Perform as Scheduled at Center

Kirov Ballet principal dancers Altynai Assylmuratova and Konstantin Zaklinsky will not perform as scheduled during the company’s nine-day engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, which starts Friday.

The two, who are married, flew back to the Soviet Union on Wednesday to be with Assylmuratova’s mother, who is gravely ill with cancer, according to Igor Stupnikov, a company spokesman.

Assylmuratova, one of the company’s international favorites, was to have danced the role of Medora and Zaklinsky was to have danced Lankedem in “Le Corsaire” next Tuesday and Thursday.

Zaklinsky also was to have danced Prince Desire in “The Sleeping Beauty” on Sunday.

New casting has not been announced. The programs will remain the same.

Assylmuratova’s mother has been very ill for weeks, but her condition has deteriorated, according to Jane P. Hermann, presentations director of the Metropolitan Opera, which is presenting the Kirov’s national tour. Assylmuratova and Zaklinsky flew to the Soviet Union from San Francisco, where they were performing with the company.