Wendy Whelan Says Goodbye with a Debut

November 28, 2001

(Photo by Nisian Hughes)

Nisian Hughes
Nisian Hughes
Nisian Hughes

 

Wendy Whelan’s October 18 performance with New York City Ballet will be her last with the company. While it’s traditional for ballerinas to perform their most iconic or favorite roles during their farewell performances, Whelan will include a debut with her exit. Christopher Wheeldon and Alexei Ratmansky will co-create a new piece for Whelan, Tyler Angle and Craig Hall. The ballet will be set to Max Richter’s “Recomposed: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons” from 2012.

Whelan told the New York Times that she chose which sections of the music each choreographer would use. “I could clearly hear Chris in the first two [movements of the music] and Alexei in the second two. They have always seen me in music, and now I’m seeing them.”

Ratmansky and Wheeldon have been very influential in Whelan’s career. She originated lead roles in Wheeldon’s celebrated Polyphonia and After the Rain, among others, and Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH and Russian Seasons, among other ballets.