Gregory

In my opinion, Alexei Ratmansky does not know how to stage a full-length ballet. The National Ballet of Canada, if it doesn’t want to turn into a provincial ballet company from Ontario, cannot keep such a choreographically weak production in its repertoire. It has kindergarten-level dramaturgy, particularly in the all-important balcony and bedroom scenes, while the choreographer resorts to his favourite trick of filling the dramatic void with a cluttered mass of meaningless little steps. Ratmansky’s Romeo and Juliet equals primitive dramaturgy with primitive choreography. I think It’s the worst version of the ballet in the world. Karen Kain made a mistake when she commissioned this ballet from Ratmansky. Fortunately, she didn’t repeat it a couple of years later when she turned down another feeble ballet by Ratmansky, The Tempest, even though the company had co-produced it with American Ballet Theatre. The right thing to do would be to return John Cranko’s genius version of Romeo and Juliet to the National Ballet of Canada’s repertoire. Or to commission a new version from a truly talented choreographer. One by one Ratmansky’s full-length productions are disappearing from European theatres: The Bavarian State Ballet eliminated his production of “Paquita”, La Scala removed his productions of “The Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake” and reverted to earlier stagings… He may have been fashionable for a while, but time-tested productions by distinguished choreographers are returning to theaters, replacing Ratmansky’s creations.

I hope you have information that ABT did not re-sign the contract with Ratmansky and since the new season he has become an Artist in Residence with NCB. And right after that, a ballerina from his new ballet troupe (NCB) goes to Toronto to dance his ballet. Let me ask you a simple question: why has Sarah never danced in Toronto, as this ballet is (15 years) in repertoire of the National Ballet of Canada ? And why is she going to Toronto to dance RJ right after Ratmansky became a head of the NCB troupe?

I suppose you mean that Sarah has the experience of dancing Ratmansky's plotless ballet miniatures, lasting 30 minutes each. I'm talking about the fact that in Sarah's repertoire there is only one big dramatic role in 2-3 act ballets for 20 years of her career. There is a huge difference between one-act plotless ballets and multi-act plot ballets.

It looks completely unnatural when a ballerina from New York (Sarah), who has only one big dramatic role in her 20-year career, replaces a world-famous Canadian ballerina (Svetlana), who has several dozen such roles.