TALLEY BEATTY, 72; INNOVATIVE CHOREOGRAPHER.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: New York Times

NEW YORK Talley Beatty, a leading modern dance choreographer known for coolly empathetic portraits of inner-city people and for high-energy, technically demanding jazz innovations, died Saturday night at Roosevelt Hospital. He was believed to be 72, and lived in Manhattan.

The cause was complications from diabetes, said Glory Van Scott, a friend.

Beatty, described by Anna Kisselgoff, chief dance critic of The New York Times, as ``one of American dance's most brilliant talents,'' was best known for sleek jazz dances that exploded with fast stage crosses from which dancers peeled off for brief solos or ensembles before merging …