Animal house. (News).

"San Francisco Ballet is one of the best ballet companies in the world now," Russian-born choreographer Alexei Ratmansky says. "They have some very exciting dancers and they have the best repertoire in the States, I think. It is so varied."

The day we talk, Ratmansky, 34, is halfway through his rehearsals for Carnival of the Animals for a May 1 San Francisco Ballet opening. He is a modest man. No fancy words about his own choreography; rather, much praise for the choreographic collaboration with the dancers.

"For me, the most important thing is to inspire dancers," he says. "I don't just want to please dancers, even though I would never do something that a dancer hates. I simply want to feel this atmosphere of creating something together. To me, this process is more important than the result."

Educated at the Bolshoi Ballet School under the same teacher as SFB principal Yuri Possokhov, Ratmansky has been a member of the Royal Danish Ballet since 1997 and a principal since 2000. He notes the unique characteristics of working in North America.

"The San Francisco dancers have this special American attack and energy. At the same time, they are very serious about their interpretation of the steps. Actually, San Francisco Ballet seems unique because the dancers come from very different backgrounds and yet [they] create a unity, I think this unity comes from the rep. They do many different ballets, European included; but instead of constantly thinking of the identity of the company, as the Royal Danish Ballet does, the dancers concentrate on the style of each particular ballet. The rehearsals are like performances; the dancers do everything 100 percent full-out. That is heaven for a choreographer." Ratmansky's earlier ballets all looked different from each other, but they all had touches of humor. The list includes Turandot's Dream and The Nutcracker, both for the Royal Danish Ballet in 2001, Cinderella for the Kirov Ballet in 2002, and Firebird for the Royal Swedish Ballet in December, 2002.

Why now Carnival of the Animals?

"I have loved this music by Saint-Saens from a very early age," says Ratmansky. "I remember how, at birthday parties, my parents made us guess which animals the music portrayed. When Helgi Tomasson asked me to make a piece, I decided that this would be the right music, out of the hundreds of scores that I would love to work with some day. All I know is that I follow the music. It is such a wild and insecure experience simply to go with a score. If a process feels risky to me, it feels good."

Which ballerinas will dance which animals?

"Muriel Maffre was the first choice for my swan," Ratmansky says. "She has done The Dying Swan so remarkably before--I have seen her dancing it both in Russia and in Denmark. However, Katita Waldo will also be very interesting indeed. I decided to keep the original Fokine steps for the swan. What is special is that I have asked my ballerinas to copy Anna Pavlova's swan, which she learned from Fokine in the original version in 1907 and danced for a film in 1924."

Aside from the tragic swan, will the ballet be fun?

"Oh yes, at least for me. It is a musical joke from Saint-Saens, so I have to answer to that."