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| Nichols' farewell performance (photo: Paul Kolnik) |
(Elizabeth) Bishop and (George) Balanchine. Ballet and the reading life. My essay, "One Cluster, Dark, Astringent," forthcoming in the summer issue of
The Southern Review, counts these (among others) as its subjects. In one section, I write about taking class with now-retired
New York City Ballet principal
Kyra Nichols at
Berkeley Ballet Theater -- a totally unexpected event that changed the way I think about movement and phrasing. Although Nichols, who was one of the last ballerinas to receive direct tutelage under
Balanchine, remains one of my favorite NYCB dancers, I'm also a great admirer of
Wendy Whelan. (If there's ever an opportunity to see her perform "Agon," do so!) In Claudia La Rocco's
"A Dancer Who Can Remember the Giants," choreographers and co-workers praise not only Whelan's obvious physical gifts, but also her intelligence:
“Whenever somebody says the word ‘muse,’ you do conjure up images of
white marble statues of subservient women kneeling at the feet of a god
holding a musical instrument,” Mr. Wheeldon said after a rehearsal.
“Collaborator is a much better word. Ballet isn’t like contemporary
dance, where the dancers are constantly using the time with the
choreographer to improvise and develop material that way. In a ballet
company it’s much more expected that you as the choreographer come up
with the dance, and they do it. But Wendy’s not that way. She has
ideas...”
“I always have to look twice — Is that Wendy Whelan? — because she’s got
this amazing ability to reinvent herself,” [choreographer] Wayne McGregor said in an
interview in 2010 while creating his first work for City Ballet. “She’s
just an extraordinary artist. And also I love that she’s like a
racehorse; she’s got this Thoroughbred kind of body, where you actually
see the musculature. You’ve got the tension, the viscerality of the body
even when she just stands there. And then you’ve got the experience,
which makes a difference...”
“I hear all the time she’s the quintessential Balanchine ballerina that
has never worked with him,” said Craig Hall, a soloist who joined the
company in 2000 and who has become one of Ms. Whelan’s regular partners.
“All of the things we think about with Balanchine, she makes those
things so crystal clear. Watching her dance in his ballets, I think, This is what he wants....
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| Agon. (Photo: Paul Kolnik) |
Whelan's talents are striking, as is her tenacity: as a dancer, she works doubly not only to master technique, but also to train her body to perform despite having severe scoliosis. Years ago, I remember reading a cover feature in
Dance Magazine in which Whelan explained that when she was a child, doctors predicted that she'd have trouble overcoming her back's weaknesses. Their diagnosis left little optimism for a career in ballet. Whelan, however, was determined. At 12, she began wearing a brace, taking it off only to bathe and to dance. She wore it for five years. At 17, she joined NYCB's corps de ballet.
