Alexei Ratmansky “has created close to 40 ballets. His choreography and his musical choices are enmeshed like a pair of courting skylarks. His dances are often witty, unpretentious and technically accomplished, but rarely fussy. He comes from a tradition in which even ballet is expected to have something to say whether the subject is love, class, power, the genius of Comrade Stalin, the fleetingness of life or the importance of celebrating beauty for its own sake. Dancers in his ballets move as if they were ravenous for space.”