Clive Barnes, 81; Influential Theater and Dance Critic

Clive Alexander Barnes was born May 13, 1927. He was 7 when his father, an ambulance driver, deserted the family. He was raised by his mother, a theatrical press agent, whose access to free tickets provided him his first glimpses of ballet.

He won a scholarship to Oxford University, where he helped revive a nearly defunct ballet club. He also began a long affiliation as editor and writer for professional dance publications, including Dance and Dancers, before graduating in 1951.

Years later, Mr. Barnes told McCall's magazine that his first wife, Joyce Tolman, insisted he find "an honest job," which led to work as a municipal planner. In 1956, a day after being hired as a critic for the Daily Express, he ended their marriage.

Subsequent marriages to Patricia Winckley and Amy Pagnozzi also ended in divorce.

Survivors include his fourth wife, Valerie Taylor-Barnes, a former soloist with Britain's Royal Ballet; two children from his second marriage, Christopher Barnes of London and Maya Johansen of Woodstock, N.Y.; and two grandchildren.

With the encouragement of his second wife, a ballet aficionado, he became widely known in England. Starting in the early 1960s, he began contributing dance articles from London to the New York Times. Once on staff, he was a daily arts commentator on the Times' classical radio station, WQXR.

Although best known for his coverage of theater, Mr. Barnes's cultural reach extended to television. He wrote in 1969 that the populist medium "is the first truly democratic culture, the first culture available to everyone and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want."