Bolshoi's Alexei Ratmansky offered choreography job in New York

Alexei Ratmansky, aUkrainian who danced with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in the 1990s, is pondering a position as resident choreographer with the New York City Ballet.

Ratmansky, currently artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, has been offered the job in New York, but not yet accepted it, according to a spokesman for City Ballet.

The Russian will meet this weekend with the company's ballet master in chief Peter Martins, spokesman Robert Daniels said.

Ratmansky told the New York Times that working with the City Ballet would allow him to "learn a lot and develop further as a choreographer."

He would be taking over from internationally renowned choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, who leaves at the end of February.

Ratmansky's contract as artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet expires at the end of this year and he has said he wants to concentrate on choreography.

But he has the option of remaining as guest choreographer at the Bolshoi.

Ratmansky was born in St. Petersburg and trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow, then began his dance career in Kiev.

From 1992-95 he was a principal with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, where he became familiar with Western-style choreography.In 1997 he joined the Royal Danish Ballet.

He has been artistic director at the Bolshoi since 2004, a bold choice, because he never danced with the company. He set about injecting new life into the traditional company, choosing new American ballets and works from Russian avant-garde choreographers of the 1920s.

He has choreographed works for the San Francisco Ballet and other international ballet companies, as well as for the Bolshoi, which toured Europe with his revival of The Bright Stream and Corsaire.