Richard Wherlock (born 21 August 1958 in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
) is a British dancer and choreographer. He has directed ''Ballett Basel'' since 2001.
Wherlock studied dance at the Ballet Rambert School and later became a Solo Dancer at the Cologne Dance Forum. Wherlock has worked as a choreographer with various European ensembles and has collaborated with renowned stage and costume designers. He is also a juror for numerous international dance competitions. In addition to his dance career, Wherlock has been involved in film and television, creating choreography for Claude Lelouch's film Hasards au coïncidences and collaborating with Swiss director Markus Fischer on two award-winning films.
Life and Work
Wherlock studied dance at the
Ballet Rambert School and eventually became committed to the Ballet Rambert as a dancer. In 1981, he was engaged by
:de:Jochen Ulrich as the Solo Dancer at the Cologne Dance Forum. While there, he first worked out his own choreography, which was soon an inherent part of the troupe’s repertoire. From 1991 to 1996, he was the Ballet Director at the
Hagen Theatre, where, according to the opinions of critics, he succeeded in advancing “into the first element of his craft” and finally removed the label of provinciality from the Hagen dance troupe. With his anticlassical choreography of ''
La Fille mal gardée
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
'', he garnered wide recognition, and he was awarded a sponsorship prize from the state of
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
in 1993. After that, he was the ballet director at
Lucerne Theatre for three seasons and worked from 1999 until 2001 at the ''
Komische Oper Berlin
The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces opera, operetta and musicals.
The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, just a few steps from Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, a ...
''. The dance troupe there was renamed the ''BerlinBallett'' in 1999, and after Wherlock’s departure in 2004, it became the
Berlin State Ballet
The Berlin State Ballet (german: Staatsballett Berlin, links=no, italic=no) is the principal ballet company in the German capital of Berlin. It was created in 2004 through a merger of the separate ballet companies of the city's three opera house ...
, joining with the ensembles of the German State Opera and the
State Opera Under the Linden. In
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, he worked with the Italian dancers and choreographers
Giorgio Madia and
:de:Massimo Gerardi, among others.
Parallel to his work as a dancer in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
and in the director’s jobs in
Hagen
Hagen () is the Largest cities in Germany, 41st-largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany. The municipality is located in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the R ...
,
Lucerne
Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...
, Berlin, and
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, he worked as a choreographer with a string of European ensembles: ''New English Contemporary Ballet'', ''Europa Danse'' (UNESCO), ''Scapino Ballet Rotterdam'',
Introdans in
Arnhem
Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...
, ensembles from
Braunschweig
Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...
,
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
,
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
, and
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
, the ''Ballet National de Nancy et de Lorraine'', ensembles from
Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
and
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
, the
Finnish National Ballet
Finnish National Ballet (Suomen Kansallisbaletti) is a professional ballet company at the Finnish National Opera, in Helsinki, Finland. The company was founded in 1922 and it currently employs 73 dancers. It is the only Finnish company that regular ...
, the Romanian National Ballet, the Iceland Ballet, and in
Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, and San Martín in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. His work was also shown at festivals, such as ''Zweiten Uni Modern Dance Festival'' of the
:de:AZet Dance Company in
Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...
. For
''Les Étoiles de l’Opéra National de Paris'', he created a full-length ballet.
''Ballett Basel''
Since 2001, Wherlock has directed and shaped ''Ballett Basel'', the dance troupe of
Theater Basel
Theater Basel is the municipal theatre of the city of Basel, Switzerland, which is home to the city's opera and ballet companies. The theatre also presents plays and musicals in addition to operas and operettas.
Because the theatre does not ha ...
, he has worked on new choreography, and since 2004, he has also led the festival, ''Basel tanzt''. In August 2014, he worked in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
with six dancers from the ''
Seoul Ballet Theatre'' on a new piece: ''Snip Shot''. Sometime later, the director of the ''Seoul Ballet Theatre'', James Jeton, created a dance piece with ensemble members from the ''Ballett Basel''. The two pieces were performed together for the 20th anniversary of the South Korean troupe in
Gwacheon
Gwacheon () is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It lies close to Seoul in the heart of the Seoul National Capital Area, and also lies just east of Anyang, Gyeonggi, Anyang. Seoul Subway Line 4 passe ...
and Seoul and later at the anniversary gala ''15 Years of Ballet with Richard Wherlock'' in Basel.
Richard Wherlock supported young talent for many years. Among the number of well-known dancers who have performed his choreography are
:de:Francesc Abós of Spain,
:de:Jochen Heckmann of Germany, Cinthia Labaronne of Argentina and
:de:Gaetano Posterino of Italy. Wherlock has worked with the stage designers Bruce French,
Manfred Gruber, Regina Lorenz, and
Michael Simon as well as with the costume designers Antonio D’Amico, Edward Hermans, Helena de Medeiros, Heidi de Raad, and Diana Stiehl. In April 2014, it was announced that Richard Wherlock would also hold the position of Director of ''Ballett Basel'' during the Directorship of
Andreas Beck. For his first premiere in the Beck Directorship, Wherlock chose the character of
Tevye
Tevye the Dairyman, also translated as Tevye the Milkman ( yi, טבֿיה דער מילכיקער, ''Tevye der milkhiker'' ) is the fictional narrator and protagonist of a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem, and various adaptations of th ...
from
Sholem Aleichem
)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Pereiaslav, Russian Empire
, death_date =
, death_place = New York City, U.S.
, occupation = Writer
, nationality =
, period =
, genre = Novels, sh ...
’s ''Tevye the Dairyman'', who achieved great popularity in the musical version ''
Fiddler on the Roof
''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the ...
''. He asked Olivier Truan from the Swiss klezmer band
Kolsimcha to write the music for this ballet. The premiere was a great success for the composer and choreographer with the audience and press, earning a standing ovation.
Richard Wherlock was and still is a juror for numerous international dance competitions.
Film and television
Wherlock was responsible for the choreography for
Claude Lelouch
Claude Barruck Joseph Lelouch (; born 30 October 1937) is a French film director, screenwriter, writer, cinematographer, actor and film producer, producer. Lelouch grew up in an Algerian Jewish Family. He emerged as a prominent director in the 1 ...
’s movie
''Hasards au coïncidences''. This film was successfully shown at the
Venice International Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...
, at the
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival (WFF; french: le Festival des Films du Monde) was one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF (although the Toronto Internat ...
, and at the
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...
.
In 2000 and 2003, Wherlock, in collaboration with Swiss director Markus Fischer, developed two movies for the broadcaster
DRS, which both received multiple awards: ''Passengers'' and ''One Bullet Left''. In 2012, Simone Winkler’s documentary, ''Before Opening Night: Richard Wherlock and His Company'', depicted the tension of the ensemble before a premiere.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wherlock, Richard
1958 births
Living people