The Bolshoi Ballet, a large part of Russia's national heritage -- dating to the 18th Century -- has entered a new artistic era. Earlier this year, 36-year-old Alexei Ratmansky became artistic director of the Moscow-based company and quickly began cultivating a balance between historic works and fresh contemporary voices.

"We shouldn't be afraid to try something new," says Ratmansky from a tour stop in Seattle. "But it is important that we introduce new choreographers and continue to present the full-length classics that we and our audiences treasure."

A choreographer himself, the St. Petersburg-born Ratmansky is also interested in reviving ballets from the Soviet era (such as "Flames of Paris") and restoring composer Dmitry Shostakovich's once-banned ballet works (such as his 1930 "The Bolt") into the troupe's repertoire.

Ratmansky brings a wealth of classical and modern influences from his years dancing with the Kiev State Ballet, Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. So his range encompasses Marius Petipa, August Bournonville, George Balanchine and Twyla Tharp. Dancing since the age of 10, he trained at the Bolshoi's school and graduated from the Moscow Choreographic Institute.

Nearly one year ago (shortly before Ratmansky took the Bolshoi's reins), the Bolshoi Ballet rocked traditionalists when it debuted in Moscow a fiercely unconventional version of "Romeo and Juliet" staged by British theater director Declan Donnellan and choreographed by Bolshoi dancer Radu Poklitaru. Pointe shoes and impassioned balcony scenes were replaced with bare feet, primal screams and a Mercutio in drag. The dance drama continued to raise some critical red flags when it premiered in London.

Nevertheless, when the Bolshoi Ballet brings more than 200 dancers and its full orchestra to the Auditorium Theatre Wednesday through Nov. 14, Chicago audiences will not see its radical "Romeo and Juliet" (which received its U.S. premiere last month in Minneapolis). Instead, two full-length 19th Century ballet war horses -- and Bolshoi hallmarks -- "Don Quixote" and "Raymonda" are on the bill.

"It's a pity," says Ratmansky when asked why Chicagoans will not experience Donnellan's raw star-crossed lovers. "But the classics are easier to sell. It's hard for ballet traditionalists to accept the new `Romeo and Juliet.'"

He adds, however, that the scheduled story ballets will showcase the range and virtuosity of the Bolshoi dancers. "Raymonda" will be performed in its three-act entirety. Typically presented as excerpts from the final act's elaborate wedding party or as part of ballet competitions, the 1898 Hungarian fantasy ballet by Marius Petipa (with revisions by Alexander Gorsky) epitomizes the grand and operatic nature of the Bolshoi Ballet. Bolshoi, after all, means "big." The company performs former Bolshoi artistic director Yuri Grigorovich's 1984 staging, which maintains the previous choreographers' bravura variations while expanding the story and medieval setting.

A later Petipa ballet, "Raymonda" tells a lightweight story involving a dream sequence, abduction, rescue and a wedding. Ratmansky says with a laugh, "The story is non-existent." He says the tale of a French princess and her crusading knight, who defeats Raymonda's Saracen suitor, was merely an excuse for brilliant dancing that pairs jaw-dropping technical feats with Hungarian and Polish folk dances. It also highlights a "gorgeous score" by Alexander Glazunov, which he believes further transcends the meandering plot.

Yet, at its core, the ballet could be accused of reinforcing certain Arab stereotypes. The saber-wielding Saracen prince Abderakhmar is on the level of a mustache-twirling villain in silent films, although contemporary stagings give him more dimensions. And he is killed by the Christian hero Jean de Brienne.

Gennady Yanin, Bolshoi's administrative director and deputy artistic director, agrees to a point: "I'm reading the memoirs of Petipa and, even at the time [of the ballet's premiere], the critics wrote that the libretto was very weak. But the story is so far away from the war in Iraq. There was a great interest in the Middle East at the time. But the story is really mixed up. It's set in France, but you have a Saracen prince and Hungarian dances."

Ratmansky believes "Raymonda" should be viewed within the context of its time as a love-triangle-style ballet. Sergey Kozadayev and Zhanna Dubrovskaya, the husband-and-wife co-artistic directors of the Salt Creek Ballet in Westmont, Ill., say the dances from "Raymonda" are a natural part of the ballet curriculum in Russia. Both from St. Petersburg and graduates of the Vaganova Academy, the pair later staged excerpts from the work for the Colorado Ballet. As a child, Kozadayev danced in a production of "Raymonda."

"The pearl of this ballet," states Dubrovskaya, "is that character dances, like Hungarian, are incorporated into the classical variations on pointe. And all the variations are different. Petipa never repeated himself."

Her husband likens "Raymonda" to a blockbuster film: "You have at least 60 people on stage. It costs a lot of money to produce a ballet of this scale; we're talking about Hollywood resources."

And those cast-of-thousands ballets are what the Bolshoi has always specialized in. Petipa's 1869 "Don Quixote," which opens the Chicago engagement, has long been viewed as a rousing extravaganza known for its wedding scene and gravity-defying variations.

"`Don Quixote' was always a great joy to dance," says Ratmansky. "The music has a fire and a Spanish feeling."

So he will continue to preserve the company's full-length ballet heritage. Yet, as a contemporary-classical choreographer himself, Ratmansky is nurturing young dancemakers, such as Radu Poklitaru and Yuri Possokhov. For the first time, the Bolshoi is hosting a choreographic workshop. Besides his original choreography and his Shostakovich projects, Ratmansky will restage three ballets by Leonide Massine -- "The Three-Cornered Hat," "Gaite Parisienne" and "Les Presages" -- for the Bolshoi.

"Ratmansky is bringing new life to the Bolshoi," says the company's Yanin, 36, once a ballet classmate of the new artistic director. "He has worked abroad and knows the direction of ballet in the West. At the same time, he has not obstructed the traditions of the Bolshoi Ballet."