Wendy Whelan

Wendy Whelan (/ˈhwiːlən/; born May 7, 1967) is a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and guest artist with Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company.

Early life

A native of Louisville, Kentucky (USA), she began her dance training with local teacher, Virginia Wooton at the age of three. After performing as a mouse in The Nutcracker with the Louisville Ballet she joined Louisville Ballet Academy where she started formal training. In 1981, she received a scholarship to the summer course at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, joining as a full-time student a year later.^[1]

Career

Wendy joined NYCB in 1984 as an apprentice and entered the company's corps de ballet January 1986.^[2] She was promoted to soloist in 1989, and to principal dancer in 1991.

She has a repertoire of more than 50 ballets, including pieces by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, and others.

Whelan is particularly known for her angular body and muscularity particularly suited to the Balanchine style. However, with Balanchine's death in 1983, a year after Whelan arrived at SAB, she only met him once.

originated roles

Jorma Elo

• Slice to Sharp

Albert Evans

• In a Landscape

William Forsythe

• Herman Schmerman

Peter Martins

• Ash
• Jazz
• Les Petits Riens

Wayne McGregor

• Outlier

Alexei Ratmansky

• Concerto DSCH
• Namouna, A Grand Divertissement
• Russian Seasons

Jerome Robbins

• Brandenburg

Lynne Taylor-Corbett

• The Seven Deadly Sins

Christopher Wheeldon

• After the Rain
• Les Carillons
• Klavier
• Liturgy
• Morphoses
• The Nightingale and the Rose
• Polyphonia
• This Bitter Earth excerpt from Five Movements, Three Repeats

Advocacy

The ballerina has openly spoken about conquering scoliosis after being diagnosed at age 12. ^{[3] [4]}

Personal life

Whelan married photographer David Michalek in September 2005.^[5]

References

External links

• Official NYCB Bio
• "Cupcakes & Conversation with Wendy Whelan". Ballet News. December 12, 2012. 
• Archive film of Wendy Whelan and Peter Boal dancing Herman Schmerman in 2004 at Jacob's Pillow

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