Review by Booklist Review
Alexei Ratmansky is one of this century's most renowned choreographers and this is the first biography about him. Ratmansky danced around the world with the National Ballet of Ukraine, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and Royal Danish Ballet and created original ballets for the Mariinsky Ballet, New York City Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet, among others. In 2004, he was named artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, a position he held until 2008 when he became resident choreographer at American Ballet Theatre, where he choreographed nearly a score of ballets. This year, he joined the New York City Ballet as artist-in-residence. His choreography includes many original works, as well as reimaginings of classics like the Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty and rediscoveries of "lost" ballets. Harss has written an appreciative, carefully researched biography, made more appealing because she interviewed her subject and those around him and watched him in rehearsal and performance over a period of years. Anyone worried that "ballet is dead" need look no further than the story of this acclaimed and accomplished artist.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Dance critic Harss traces the life of dancer-turned-choreographer Alexei Ratmansky in her impressively detailed debut. An explosive mix of talent, ambition, and "utter devotion" to ballet propelled Ratmansky from a humble childhood in Kyiv to rigorous training at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Russia and international tours as a principal dancer in different companies. He found his calling as a choreographer in 2003 when he developed a ballet for the Bolshoi Ballet company that became a "surprise success" and thereafter devoted himself to "making ballets with as much artistic freedom as possible" and developing a style characterized by clean lines, playfulness, and movement "that is neither pure nor fully story driven." According to Harss, Ratmansky's ballets express "ideas and images and feelings, but it would be almost impossible" to capture the precise narrative. While Ratmansky's productions have never explicitly centered politics, his heritage reveals itself more subtly in his work: for example, he created Songs of Bukovina, based on Ukrainian folk material, in 2017, when the country was fighting Russian interference. While the author's admiration for her subject sometimes devolves into flattery (ballet is the "language in which he feels more conversant... the air he breathes"), it's a pleasure to follow Ratmansky's career, which is brought to life by Harss's deep research. Dance aficionados will delight in this vibrant portrait. (Oct.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The career of an acclaimed choreographer. Dance writer Harss makes a lively book debut with an appreciative, richly detailed, generously illustrated biography of dancer and choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, formerly director of the Bolshoi Ballet, artist in residence at the American Ballet Theatre, and presently artist in residence at the New York City Ballet. Born in Leningrad in 1968 to Ukrainian parents, he began studying dance at the famed Bolshoi Academy. Because students from the Soviet republics were referred to by their place of origin, the young Alexei became known as "the boy from Kyiv." Harss recounts the trajectory of Ratmansky's dancing career: the National Ballet of Ukraine, which sent him touring to Western Europe, Japan, and Mexico; the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, where he was promoted to principal dancer; and the Royal Danish Ballet. Besides dancing, he began to create works, and by the end of 2002, he had made nearly 30 ballets, including two full-length pieces. Invited to become the director of the Bolshoi Ballet in 2003, Ratmansky faced a difficult challenge: The venerable company, with nearly 230 dancers, was suspicious of him. At first, his strategy "was to simply ignore the grumblings and keep moving forward," but the struggle wore him down. In 2009, he accepted an invitation from the American Ballet Theatre. Harss insightfully chronicles Ratmansky's works, many characterized by "youthful nonchalance" and irreverent charm, others paying homage to acclaimed choreographers such as Petipa and Bournonville. Ratmansky, Harss writes, "is a playful absurdist, an artist who combines the oddity of Lewis Carroll and Daniil Kharms with the glow of Tiepolo and the vulnerability of Mozart." Although Ratmansky has drawn from international influences, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has inspired in him "a sense of belonging," he told Harss, "and it's something very new to me. I feel it is my duty to support Ukrainian culture." A delightful gift for ballet fans. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
