Alexei Ratmansky

Ratmansky was born in Leningrad in Russia, Soviet Union, grew up in Kyiv, then in the Soviet Union, later the capital of independent Ukraine, and trained under Pyotr Pestov and Alexandra Markeyeva at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow.[4] He graduated in 1986.[6] He then started his professional career in Kyiv[7] and was a principal dancer with the Ukrainian National Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet.

Ratmansky's choreographic career first became notable with his staging of the ballet Dreams of Japan for the State Ballet of Georgia in 1998. Dreams and Charms of Mannerism, choreographed in 1997, were both created for Nina Ananiashvili.[8] Dreams earned the Golden Mask Award from the Theatre Union of Russia.

Ratmansky is noted for restaging traditionally classical ballets for large companies.[9] His first three-act story ballet was Cinderella, created for the Kirov Ballet in 2002.[8] Ratmansky's 2003 staging of The Bright Stream (also translated as "The Limpid Stream") for the Bolshoi Ballet led to his appointment as artistic director of that company the following year. While there he also made a full-length production of The Bolt, in 2005, and re-staged Le Corsaire and the Flames of Paris, in 2007 and 2008. The Critics' Circle in London has named the Bolshoi "Best Foreign Company" under Ratmansky's direction, in 2005 and 2007, and he received its National Dance Award for The Bright Stream.

After his directorship at the Bolshoi, Ratmansky agreed to become the first artist in residence for the American Ballet Theatre in 2008 after negotiations with the New York City Ballet failed over the position of resident choreographer.[6] His ballets for the New York City Ballet include Russian Seasons and Concerto DSCH, and for the American Ballet Theatre, On the Dnieper and Seven Sonatas.

In 2011, his choreography of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet was premiered by the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto. Its performance in London earned Ratmansky the praise from New York Times reviewer Alastair Macaulay of being "the most gifted choreographer specializing in classical ballet today."[10]

In 2014, Ratmansky took his career in a new direction when he reconstructed Marius Petipa's final revival of Paquita from the Sergeyev Collection. The reconstruction was premièred in Munich in December 2014, performed by the Bavarian State Ballet. In March 2015, he mounted his second Petipa reconstruction for American Ballet Theatre - The Sleeping Beauty, which premièred in Orange County and was later staged at the Teatro alla Scala. Ratmansky is currently reconstructing the Petipa/Ivanov 1895 staging of Swan Lake, which was premièred in Zurich in February 2016.

He was choreographing a new work at the Bolshoi when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022; he immediately left Russia and condemned the invasion. His parents and in-laws were still in Ukraine in August 2023, and could not leave.[7]

In January 2023 the New York City Ballet announced that Ratmansky would join them as an artist in residence in August 2023.[11]

Ratmansky received the 2005 and 2014 Prix Benois de la Danse for choreography for, respectively, Anna Karenina, put on for the Royal Danish Ballet, and Shostakovich Trilogy and The Tempest, put on for the American Ballet Theatre. He also received the 2007 Golden Mask Award for Best Choreographer for Jeu de Cartes choreographed for the Bolshoi Ballet.

In 2013, Ratmansky was named as the MacArthur Fellow of the year, an award that came with "genius grant" for "working in any field, who "show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work". (http://www.macfound.org/fellows/900/)

• ABT website
• "Dance of Death" by Judith Mackrell, an article in The Guardian
• Archive film of Alexei Ratmansky's Charms of Mannerism in 1999 at Jacob's Pillow