BECKET. The economy is on the rocks and the political future is fraught with terrifying uncertainty, but ballet, that seemingly eternal treasure in the national chest of Mother Russia appears to be in marvelous shape. This is the conclusion to be drawn from performances by the octet of fine artists that moved into Jacob's Pillow this week for a series of performances running through tomorrow.

The official title of the troupe is Nina Ananiashvili and Principals of the Bolshoi Ballet, and indeed Ananiashvili measures up to every exciting syllable of advance intelligence concerning this prima ballerina now active of both sides of the Atlantic. The exciting news is that her seven colleagues also are dancers of considerable accomplishment.

The group, in this configuration, is making its debut in this country; a grand tour in the magic year to come, 2000, will take them elsewhere. But the people at Jacob’s Pillow put this engagement together as a finale to the festival’s 1999 summer season, and it turned out to be a stunner for the cheering opening night throng, Wednesday in the Ted Shawn Theatre.

Wisely, the more traditional turn of Russian ballet occupied the first half of the program, priming an audience that, if the Pillow be its only exposure to dance, has seen precious little of the classical form in recent times. Movement was in the expected vivid Russian ballet language, and with the attendant tutus and other traditional attire. The program’s stretch, «Dreams About Japan», offering a peek into one possible future manifestation of the art, was saved for the period following intermission.

«Charms of Mannerism» given its American premiere, offers an intimate transformation of four characters - two of each gender - from veritable robot - like figures to virtuosi of the spectrum of balletic movement.

The young Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky set his often whimsical dance to orchestrated harpsichord pieces of Francois Couperin, and it afforded windows of pleasurable expressions among such subtitles as «Les Tours de Magie», «Les Jeunes Signores», and «Le Trophee». Ananiashvili was joined here by Andrei Uvarov, Tatiana Terekhova and Sergei Filin in exploring an array of possible relationships and their consequences through 16 movements of dazzling and thoughtful variations, quartets, pas de deux and pas de trois.

The strong Russian training was clear in the especially effective partnering displayed by the four men.

Notably, the briefly costumed Dmitri Belogolovstev proved a vital companion for Maria Alexandrova, as well as an elegantly athletic soloist in the Pas de Deux from Agrippina Vaganova’s 1934 «Diana and Actaeon». Inna Petrova and Dmitri Gudanov reached back still another century in their graceful Pas de Deux from August Bournonville’s «La Sylphide».

A popular notion that Russian dance is resting too comfortably on its noble past deeds is disabused by Ratmansky’s one - act «Dreams About Japan». Its structure was gathered from Kabuki performance traditions and lavishly costumed accordingly by Michael Makharadze who also designed the hanging Japanese calligraphic backdrop.

The piece, sensitively lighted by Vyatcheslav Kuteev, employed the evening’s only live music, a percussive, intermittently lyrical, score by the Japanese Taiko drum group Kodo, performed by members of the orchestra of the State Bolshoi Theatre of Russia.

The tale involves The Heron Maiden who mourns her lost love and sad destiny, souls of abandoned lovers who took their own lives and a young monk who dismisses the maiden’s love.

Crisply executed entrechats, jetes and tours en l’air by seven of the dancers, sans Alexandrova in this case, are combined with more liberated, often subtle, elements of modern vocabulary to create a collage of delicacy and supreme emotion reminiscent of fine hours spent with Maurice Bejart. The maiden, broken hearted by the rebuke of her love by the monk, is transformed into a vengeful snake, and following the pas de deux Ananiashvili sinks dramatically to the door, her hand pulsating up and down ever more slowly, the avenged serpent expiring - chilling moments from a compelling actress.

Throughout the evening the sheer power of the dancers, especially the men, seemed somewhat muted occasionally by the limited proportions of the Shawn stage. On the other hand, great benefits accrued in the attendant intimacy, providing unparalleled opportunities to watch such artists at close range.