June 26, 1998

Dance fans at more than one Broadway show this summer might feel like the protagonist of Moliere's ''Bourgeois Gentilhomme,'' who was unaware that he was speaking ''prose.'' Audiences might be surprised to learn how much choreography runs through musicals that resemble anything but the standard dance-driven show. A closer look would show that dance can go beyond the time-honored integrated number that advances the plot. Dance is there, whether we know it or not.

Three and a half years after a Bronx man's errant toss of a football led to his death while he was being taken into custody by Officer Francis X. Livoti, the Federal case against Mr. Livoti has provided new evidence suggesting an ingrained reluctance in the Police Department to punish either abusive officers or those who cover up for them. Since Anthony Baez, 29, died of asphyxiation on Dec. 22, 1994, Police Department critics have viewed the Livoti case as an example of the department's lax control of officers with abusive tendencies.

In a decision intended to resolve an issue that split the Western Christian world nearly 500 years ago, the Vatican said yesterday that it would sign a declaration with most of the world's Lutherans affirming that Roman Catholics and Lutherans share a basic understanding of how human beings receive God's forgiveness and salvation. The document, approved last week by the Lutheran World Federation, declares that Catholics and Lutherans have found an essential common ground on the issue of ''justification,'' the action by which a human being is made worthy of salvation.

Local Bells See Bright Side In AT&T-TCI Merger Deal Shares of the five local Bell telephone companies dropped by almost 4 percent on average, shaving about $11 billion from their combined market value one day after AT&T agreed to acquire Tele-Communications Inc. for $31.8 billion.

With derogatory Yankee chants floating in the humid air and 35,156 fans on hand, there was a festive atmosphere at Shea Stadium last night as a prelude to this weekend's showdown with the Yankees. And Hideo Nomo did not disappoint. Even though he received no decision in the Mets' 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles -- Carlos Baerga's bloop, two-out single in the ninth won the game -- Nomo (2-8) turned in his strongest outing since he was acquired from Los Angeles on June 4.