Alexei Ratmansky

From grueling rehearsals to the world premiere, Romeos & Juliets offers an unprecedented behind-the-curtain look at the National Ballet of Canada as ten dancers vie to perform the lead roles on the coveted opening night of "Romeo and Juliet," as envisioned by acclaimed choreographer Alexei Ratmansky in celebration of the company's 60th anniversary.

When he arrives in Saint Petersburg, at the age of 29, Marius Petipa is just an obscure dancer who fled western Europe to escape his debts. He is far from imagining that his engagement in the troupe of the Russian Imperial Ballet, then rather mediocre, will reveal him, forty years later, as one of the greatest choreographers in the history of dance. It is within the Bolshoi Kamenny theaters, then Mariinsky, in a still provincial capital where three productions a year are enough to satisfy an undemanding audience, that this native of Marseille will invent a new art of ballet, over the course of sixty of creations, between 1862 (La fille du pharaon) and 1895 (Le lac des cygnes).

Don Quichot – an audience favourite of prestigious companies worldwide – is a dazzling display of high spirits, virtuosity and Spanish temperament. The flamboyant leaps, dizzying pirouettes and crisp pointe work that are standard features of the production give the performers every opportunity to show off their technical prowess. But at the same time, the comic story based on Cervantes’ masterpiece makes strong demands on the dancers’ acting abilities.

Lucien, a young composer, sets out to conquer the Parisian scene in search of glory. His success soon blinds him, and he betrays his friends and his love. Lost Illusions is a new ballet created in Moscow in 2011 by Alexei Ratmansky with dramaturgical advice from Guillaume Gallienne. This stylised adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s novel features thwarted love, ambition, and disillusionment, with 19th century Paris as its backdrop.

For one evening, the Bolshoi takes on a new challenge with audacity in The Cage by Jerome Robbins, Harald Lander’s Études and Alexei Ratmansky’s Russian Seasons.

A tale of the French Revolution, The Flames of Paris belongs to the pearls of the pure classics of classical dance. This world premiere recording of the production from choreographer Alexei Ratmansky (after Vasily Vaynonenon) and the Bolshoi Ballet, features the standout soloists Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev. Although set in revolutionary France, The Flames of Paris was intended to serve as an allegory for contemporary events in the Soviet Union. The ballet premiered in 1932 on the anniversary of the October Revolution, and one of its main characters was the population - revolutionary in mood and ready for action. Not surprisingly, The Flames of Paris was quickly included in the ranks of works which were always presented for major anniversaries.The choreographer Alexei Ratmansky has attempted to make maximum use of the preserved fragments of Vasily Vainonen in his new ballet.

A documentary portrait of Brazilian ballet star Marcelo Gomes.

Bolt, Shostakovich's forbidden ballet which was never performed after its premiere in 1931, in a new scenic version by Alexei Ratmansky! In 1931, the Moscow Art Theater commissioned the young national hero Dmitri Shostakovich, aged just twenty-five, to compose the music of a ballet that should, according to the rules of the Socialist Realism, depict and glorify the values of the USSR. However, after a first performance of the ballet, Shostakovich's work – composed to a book by Viktor Smirnov – was suspected to be satirical, and was immediately forbidden. In 2006, Alexei Ratmansky created a new version for the Bolshoi Ballet. This program is the first video recording of the ballet.

The Little Humpbacked Horse is based on a Russian folk tale for children, but the latest adaptation for the stage by Ratmansky is fresh, fun and very creative, with a wide audience appeal. A perfect blend of "classical meets modern". This is a ballet to music (1956) by Rodion Shchedrin, whose works came in the repertoire of the Mariinsky Theatre in recent years. It was premierred at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1960. Current production was choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky in 2009. The choreographer Alexei Ratmansky is well-known to Russian and American audiences for his works staged at the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky Theatres, as well as in the famous American Ballet Theatre company.

The Little Humpbacked Horse is based on a Russian folk tale for children, but the latest adaptation for the stage by Ratmansky is fresh, fun and very creative, with a wide audience appeal. A perfect blend of "classical meets modern". This is a ballet to music (1956) by Rodion Shchedrin, whose works came in the repertoire of the Mariinsky Theatre in recent years. It was premierred at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1960. Current production was choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky in 2009. The choreographer Alexei Ratmansky is well-known to Russian and American audiences for his works staged at the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky Theatres, as well as in the famous American Ballet Theatre company.

During harvest festival at a collective farm, a visiting dance troupe reunites a ballerina with her childhood friend Zina. In order to teach her unfaithful husband a lesson, Zina, the ballerina, and the ballerina’s husband decide to swap roles for the evening… Alexei Ratmansky invokes the genius of Shostakovich’s score at the Bolshoi, creating a laugh-out-loud masterpiece with its bits of slapstick comedy, hilarious deceptions, false identities including Principal Dancer Ruslan Skvortsov dressed as a Sylph and its many colorful characters! The Bolshoi bursts with vivid life and bright spirits in Ratmansky’s brilliantly choreographed smash. Captured live on Apr 29, 2012.

A tale of the French Revolution, The Flames of Paris belongs to the pearls of the pure classics of classical dance. This world premiere recording of the production from choreographer Alexei Ratmansky (after Vasily Vaynonenon) and the Bolshoi Ballet, features the standout soloists Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev. Although set in revolutionary France, The Flames of Paris was intended to serve as an allegory for contemporary events in the Soviet Union. The ballet premiered in 1932 on the anniversary of the October Revolution, and one of its main characters was the population - revolutionary in mood and ready for action. Not surprisingly, The Flames of Paris was quickly included in the ranks of works which were always presented for major anniversaries.The choreographer Alexei Ratmansky has attempted to make maximum use of the preserved fragments of Vasily Vainonen in his new ballet.

Commissioned by the Mariinsky in 2002, 'Cinderella' was the production that launched choreographer Alexei Ratmansky onto the world stage. Filmed in 2013 and now released on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time, the production stars one of the foremost prima ballerinas in the world today, Diana Vishneva. Recently described by The Telegraph as being 'as close to physical and technical perfection as it is possible to be', Vishneva delivers a dazzling performance, and is conducted by leading Prokofiev interpreter, Valery Gergiev. Ratmansky is the world s most influential ballet-maker, credited with revitalising classical dance through a series of highly individual productions. He breathes new life into Prokofiev s ballet, weaving together an array of different styles and echoing the complexities of the composer s score.

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