Yuri Burlaka

Yuri Burlaka will become the new artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moskow, since it has been an open secret that Alexei Ratmansky would not remain in this position, preferring instead to pursue his international choreographic career. Yuri Burlaka is variously described as an academic, reconstructor of classic ballets and ballet master, who will replace Ratmansky when his contract expires at the end of December. Burlaka and Ratmansky know each other well, are the same age (39) and trained at the same institutions.

Last year they collaborated on the successful reconstruction of “Le Corsaire” which garnered much praise from the foreign press, particularly in the UK.
Ratmansky was appointed to the Bolshoi job in 2004, revitalised the rather dusty repertoire and elevated exciting young stars like Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev. He will remain at the Bolshoi as creative director of new productions. What is clear is that Ratmansky succeeded where most of Yuri Grigorovich’s successors failed: he revived lost ballets from the Soviet era – “The Bright Stream” he choreographed was a triumph in London and New York, and he will soon revive “The Flames of Paris;” he revised classics ...