American Ballet Theatre and Joffrey Will Not Merge : Dance: ABT says it will name a new artistic director, while the Joffrey Ballet sets an emergency fund-raising campaign.

NEW YORK — American Ballet Theatre’s board of trustees announced Thursday that the company and the Joffrey Ballet have decided not to merge, and that ABT would probably name a new artistic director next week. “The two companies mutually agreed . . . to pursue their futures as separate entities,” according to a statement by board chairman Stephen J. Friedman.

Simultaneously, an announcement from the Joffrey Ballet’s board acknowledged the end to merger talks with ABT and that the Joffrey would mount an emergency fund-raising campaign. The Joffrey has a deficit of $2.7 million, while ABT’s is in the $4-million to $5-million range.

The Joffrey also released a schedule of upcoming performances, which does not include any winter dates at the Los Angeles Music Center, where the company has performed “The Nutcracker” annually since 1988.

ABT’s Friedman met Thursday with the dancers and staff and announced that the company will cancel its engagements in San Francisco and Chicago during the coming season because it would lose money presenting itself. The company plans to perform in all its other venues this season, including Japan and Buenos Aires this fall and winter, a week at Orange County Performing Arts Center beginning Jan. 18, a week at the Kennedy Center beginning Feb. 1 and eight weeks at the Metropolitan Opera House May 3-June 28.

Friedman said the board would beef up its own giving until a revised financial plan for 1992-93 can be developed jointly with a new artistic director. The accelerated giving means that the dancers, staff and vendors will be paid by next week and their health plan premiums paid up to date.

Rumors circulating in the company suggest that Kevin McKenzie, a former ABT principal dancer who is the associate director and choreographer with the Washington (D.C.) Ballet, will be offered the artistic directorship. An ABT dancer said last week that McKenzie was a popular candidate among the dancers because “he’s so good at raising money and has practical hands-on experience.”

In a phone conversation last week, McKenzie said he’d been informally asked “for advice” on what to do about ABT’s fiscal crisis. When asked whether he might take over the ABT leadership, he replied: “You never know what’s around the corner.”