“It’s been a lot; I need to process it,” choreographer Alexei Ratmansky — born in Russia, raised in Ukraine — says about the war in Ukraine. “The best way to process it is to find a shape for it onstage.” Read more:
, he learned to decode old forms of dance notation to unearth the original choreography of pieces like “Swan Lake” and “The Sleeping Beauty.”
After stints in Canada and Denmark, he returned to Moscow in 2004 to head the Bolshoi Ballet. At the time, Ratmansky was just 35 years old. “They said I was the youngest in the history of the Bolshoi,” he said. “That was pretty insane.”It wasn’t just Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of his western neighbor that stunned Ratmansky; he’s also disappointed in the lack of push back in Russia.
Ratmansky made the City his home in 2009, after he left the Bolshoi. While the company’s foreign tours were feted, the changes he made raised hackles in some quarters in Russia. He introduced American choreographers like Twyla Tharp into the company’s repertoire and promoted younger dancers, which didn’t sit well with the old guard.
“There is no hiding when you’re in front of Alexei, in a room or onstage,” said ABT principal dancer Calvin Royal III, seen here with Christine Shevchenko in Ratmansky's "Songs of Bukovina."“There is no hiding when you’re in front of Alexei, in a room or onstage,” said ABT principal dancer Calvin Royal III, seen here with Christine Shevchenko in Ratmansky's "Songs of Bukovina.
That passion for detail prompted Ratmansky to document the original choreography of the great Western ballets. He and his wife headed into the archives of Houghton Library at Harvard University to peruse the scores of Marius Petipa, the French-born choreographer who created seminal works in Russia during the late 19th century. The Ratmanskys recently recreated Petipa’s “Swan Lake” for Miami City Ballet, and“I want to get as close to the original intentions as possible,” Ratmansky said.
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At American Ballet Theatre, a star choreographer with ties to Russia and Ukraine processes the war with his art“I was the boy from Kyiv when I studied in Moscow,' says choreographer Alexei Ratmansky. 'When I danced in Kyiv I was the foreigner from Moscow.' Currently artist-in-residence with the American Ballet Theatre, he is processing the war in Ukraine onstage.
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