Alexei Ratmansky

Alexei Ratmansky was born in St. Petersburg and trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School. His performing career included positions as Principal Dancer with Ukrainian National Ballet, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet and The Royal Danish Ballet. He has choreographed ballets for Mariinsky Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Het Nationale Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, The Australian Ballet, Kyiv Ballet and the State Ballet of Georgia, as well as for Nina Ananiashvili, Diana Vishneva and Mikhail Baryshnikov. His 1998 work, Dreams of Japan, earned a prestigious Golden Mask Award by the Theatre Union of Russia. In 2005, he was awarded the Prix Benois de la Danse for his choreography of Anna Karenina for The Royal Danish Ballet and was made Knight of Dannebrog by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in 2001. In 2014, he won his second Prix Benois de la Danse for Shostakovich Trilogy.

Alexei was named Artistic Director of The Bolshoi Ballet in January 2004. Under his 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. In 2009, Alexei choreographed new dances for the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Aida. He joined American Ballet Theatre as Artist in Residence in January 2009 and is due to depart in June 2023. He will become Artist in Residence of New York City Ballet beginning in August 2023. In 2013, Alexei was named a MacArthur Fellow.