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Ratmansky to become ABT resident choreographer

nysusan

By nysusan
in American Ballet Theatre

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Kathleen O'Connell

Kathleen O'Connell

Posted
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Now if only ABT could manage to get their hands on a decent theater. One of the (many) reasons I would have liked Ratmansky to sign on with NYCB is that we would be able to see his ballets performed in State Theater. (Oops! Pardon me, that's Koch "coke not kotch" Theater!) Neither the Met nor City Center is a particularly good venue for dance, and I've probably seen much less of ABT as a result.

Does anyone know if the upcoming City Center renovations will address its lousy sight lines, or are they more along the lines of a fresh coat of paint and new carpeting?

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abatt

abatt

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Ratmansky's choice of ABT over NYCB puzzles me. I would have thought City Ballet would be a much better fit for the types of works Ratmansky choreographs. ABT's main focus at the MET is putting on old war horses that will fill 3,000+ seats. When ABT goes on tour they also tend to focus on the old full length works that will fill the auditorium. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

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carbro

carbro

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WOW!!!! What great news.Maybe, this is the reason that the Met spring season has not been announced. It is usually mentioned in the NYT New Season section but there was no mention in last sunday's Times.
I just -- not ten minutes ago -- got a "please donate" call from ABT. The young lady first asked how I liked last year's City Center season. Of course, I told her "Very much," adding that the CC seasons are so much more interesting than the hugely boring Met Seasons. She went on to tell me that "this year will be different," that only two full lengths are returning and that there will be two mixed bills -- one all Tchaikovsky and a second with an ABT premiere of a Kylian ballet. Other details, she said, "are secret until they are announced" (but of course, donors get the news first, etc., etc.) So who knows?
Wow! That's major news. Good for ABT, but a real slap in the face to Peter Martins. Might ABT also employ some of the dancers that Ratmansky has brought to prominence at the Bolshoi (Osipova and Vasiliev, who were dazzling at the YAGP Gala). Let's hope!
And/or Maria Alexandrova :excl: ? Unfortunately, she has expressed no desire to establish a career beyond the Bolshoi. :( Still, one can hope. :beg::beg: .
Ratmansky's choice of ABT over NYCB puzzles me. I would have thought City Ballet would be a much better fit for the types of works Ratmansky choreographs. ABT's main focus at the MET is putting on old war horses that will fill 3,000+ seats. When ABT goes on tour they also tend to focus on the old full length works that will fill the auditorium. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
ABT could really use some solid, new classical ballets (of any length), and Ratmansky may be just what they need. I'd been hoping to see him go to NYCB, but in the end, I think he can make a greater impact on ABT's artistic profile than NYCB's.

This was a brilliant move by ABT, and I congratulate both the company and Ratmansky and wish them nothing but good fortune as they join forces.

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drb

drb

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Ratmansky made a lot of young Bolshoi dancers happy by casting them in big roles: sounds just like what ABT's youngsters have been missing, and audiences have been asking for. And some of that new Bolshoi talent is just what ABT's fading ballerina roster needs, and not just top-of-the-world stars Osipova or Vasiliev (yes a man, but at least as great as any of ABT's vaunted stars), but so many more... I wonder if he will be willing to revive any classics, as he's done for Bolshoi?

I think I'd rather he create, but also just kind of look over Mr. McKenzie's shoulder when anything is being "revived."

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bingham

bingham

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Ratmansky made a lot of young Bolshoi dancers happy by casting them in big roles: sounds just like what ABT's youngsters have been missing, and audiences have been asking for. And some of that new Bolshoi talent is just what ABT's fading ballerina roster needs, and not just top-of-the-world stars Osipova or Vasiliev (yes a man, but at least as great as any of ABT's vaunted stars), but so many more... I wonder if he will be willing to revive any classics, as he's done for Bolshoi?

I think I'd rather he create, but also just kind of look over Mr. McKenzie's shoulder when anything is being "revived."

Drb, you got your wish.According to the ABT website, Alexei will choreograph a new ballet, set to Prokofiev, for the Met spring season. :excl:

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Dale

Dale

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Here's the official release:

ALEXEI RATMANSKY NAMED

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

WITH AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE

9/10/2008 - Alexei Ratmansky, artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, will join American Ballet Theatre as Artist in Residence in January 2009. The appointment was announced today by ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

Mr. Ratmansky, whose contract with the Bolshoi Ballet expires at the end of 2008, has signed a five-year agreement with American Ballet Theatre. In his capacity as Artist in Residence, he will create new works, re-stage existing ballets and work as an integral part of the artistic team at ABT. His first work for ABT, set to a score by Sergei Prokofiev, is scheduled for the Company’s 2009 Metropolitan Opera House season.

Mr. Ratmansky was born in St. Petersburg and trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow. His performing career included positions as principal dancer with Ukrainian National Ballet, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. He has choreographed ballets for the Dutch National Ballet, Kirov Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the State Ballet of Georgia, under the artistic direction of ABT Principal Dancer Nina Ananiashvili. His 1998 work, Dreams of Japan, choreographed for Ms. Ananiashvili, earned a prestigious Golden Mask Award by the Theatre Union of Russia. In 2005, he was awarded the Benois de la Danse prize for his choreography of Anna Karenina for the Royal Danish Ballet.

Mr. Ratmansky was named artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet in January 2004. For the Bolshoi Ballet, he choreographed full-length productions of The Bright Stream (2003) and The Bolt (2005) and re-staged Le Corsaire (2007) and the Soviet-era Flames of Paris (2008). Under Mr. Ratmansky’s direction, the Bolshoi Ballet was named “Best Foreign Company” in 2005 and 2007 by The Critics’ Circle in London, and he received a Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for The Bright Stream in 2006. In 2007, he won a Golden Mask Award for Best Choreographer for his production of Jeu de Cartes for the Bolshoi Ballet.

“I am delighted to have Alexei as part of ABT,” said Mr. McKenzie. “It will be extraordinary to have such an incredibly creative artist working with our dancers on a regular basis. During the 1940’s and ’50’s, Ballet Theatre was home to a stable of choreographers that worked regularly with the Company. As a result, many great works were created. I’m confident that having Alexei ‘in-house’ will result in the creation of wonderful new works that are unique to American Ballet Theatre.”

“It will be wonderful to work with Kevin McKenzie and the brilliant dancers of American Ballet Theatre,” said Mr. Ratmansky. “I am also looking forward to focusing exclusively on my creative work, without the administrative responsibility of being an artistic director, and to a complete change of environment.”

In addition to his work for American Ballet Theatre as Artist in Residence, Mr. Ratmansky will continue to choreograph for companies around the world.

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papeetepatrick

papeetepatrick

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I'd been hoping to see him go to NYCB, but in the end, I think he can make a greater impact on ABT's artistic profile than NYCB's.

This was a brilliant move by ABT, and I congratulate both the company and Ratmansky and wish them nothing but good fortune as they join forces.

That's my gut reaction to it, because I think NYCB is mostly about past greatness, to which there is no way to realistically return fully except for glimmers here and there, and that there is more freedom and potential at ABT. And people reported other developments, like Makarova coaching the corps this past season. With the kind of stars it has, ABT could with this addition become the greatest company in the world, for a few years at least. It's definitely going to make me want to plan to go next spring and summer. When you hear this kind of thing, it sounds like ABT will likely become more than something 'that will do' since we don't have the Kirov that often, etc. Could be very exciting, the combination of new works and warhorses.

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Leigh Witchel

Leigh Witchel

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I'm slightly more hesitant because ABT has never been a choreographer's company and they're going to have to change some things in the way they work to use Ratmansky to his fullest. At the same time, there are things that ABT could hand him off the bat that would be good for all concerned without ABT having to change their culture.

How about -

Swan Lake

Nutcracker

or Sleeping Beauty?

If Ratmansky could fix any one of those his tenure would be a good thing.

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papeetepatrick

papeetepatrick

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How about -

Swan Lake

Nutcracker

or Sleeping Beauty?

If Ratmansky could fix any one of those his tenure would be a good thing.

Well, I'll admit, that happens to be exactly what I was thinking about mostly too, or at least Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. I don't think I've ever even seen Nutcracker at ABT, though. Which is not to say that the new work might not shake out the fossilization problem people talk about.

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Waelsung

Waelsung

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I don't want to rain on anybody's parade here, but I can't seem to share this almost unanimous enthusiasm about Ratmansky. His success at Bolshoi was to a great extent conditioned by the stars he worked with: Zakharova, Alexandrova, Osipova. There are no ballerinas of their caliber at ABT presently. Except for Vishneva, but if you saw what Ratmansky "choreographed" for her in Pierrot Lunnaire, you wouldn't be holding your breath waiting for their next effort.

In general, Ratmansky is not about the theatrical, dramatical side of the ballet, but the pure dance (as he understands it). Again, just look at the atrocious Cinderella that he dumped on Mariinsky - for me it's absolutely the worst version of the Prokofiev masterpiece that I have ever seen (and I've seen quite a few).

It's possible that he would be able to contribute to the ABT Fall Season, but full-length "drama ballet" are not really his forte.

A lot of people in Moscow are really happy to see him go, so I've been wondering why everybody seems to be so upbeat about him on this side of the Atlantic.

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