Christopher Peter Wheeldon OBE (born 22 March 1973) is an English international

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...

of contemporary

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

Life and career

Born in

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somerset's southern border with ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at the age of 8. He attended the Royal Ballet School between the ages of 11 and 18. In 1991, Wheeldon joined the Royal Ballet, London; and in that same year, he won the gold medal at the Prix de Lausanne competition. In 1993, at the age of 19, Wheeldon moved to

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to join the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company ...

. Wheeldon was named Soloist in 1998.Brown, Mark. "Ballet world abuzz at British choreographer's huge gamble,"
''Manchester Guardian'', 5 January 2007. Wheeldon began choreographing for the New York City Ballet in 1997, while continuing his career as a dancer. He retired as a dancer in 2000 in order to focus on his choreography. In 2001, Wheeldon became the New York City Ballet resident choreographer and first resident artist. He was productive in this position, choreographing a number of much lauded works for the troupe, Polyphonia being the first. He quickly developed a reputation as a talented choreographer, and several other eminent ballet companies, such as the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

, the Bolshoi Ballet, and the Royal Ballet, London have commissioned dances from him. As of May, 2003, Wheeldon had composed at least 23 works. In November 2006 Wheeldon announced the formation of

Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company Morphoses is a ballet company, co-founded in 2007 by Christopher Wheeldon and Lourdes Lopez. Morphoses is a guest resident company at the New York City Center and at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. It was known as Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company ...

, a transatlantic company with a US base at New York City Center and in the UK at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London. In its first season, the company performed in

Vail Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the numer ...

, London and New York. Wheeldon completed his tenure as Resident Choreographer of New York City Ballet in February 2008. In 2009 the

City Parks Foundation The City Parks Foundation is the only independent, nonprofit organization to offer programs in parks throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The organization works in over 750 parks citywide, presenting a broad range of free arts, sport ...

commissioned Wheeldon and contemporary singer/songwriter Martha Wainwright to create a new work. The piece, entitled "Tears of St. Lawrence," premiered at Central Park SummerStage on 14 and 15 August. The fifteen-minute ballet, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon and Edwaard Liang, featured twelve dancers accompanied by live music and song by Wainwright, who sang while intermingling with the dancers. In February, 2010, resigned from Morphoses, which will continue to produce ballets without his name. An Emmy award-winning fly-on-the-wall TV documentary "Strictly Bolshoi" followed Wheeldon as he became the first Englishman to be invited to create a new work for the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet. In the June/July 2009 issue of The Advocate, Wheeldon was featured on a list of artists who made the "Forty Under 40" list. Christopher Wheeldon was appointed Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet in 2012. In 2011, Wheeldon premiered a full-length ballet '' "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"'' at the Royal Ballet,

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

. This was the first full-length ballet created at the Royal Ballet for over 20 years, and was jointly commissioned with the National Ballet of Canada. The ballet had its world premiere on 28 February 2011 (with Royal Ballet principal Lauren Cuthbertson in the lead role) and featured a brand new score by Joby Talbot. In 2014, Wheeldon premiered another full-length ballet, '' The Winter's Tale'' for the Royal Ballet,

based on the

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

play of the same name. It, too, featured a score by Joby Talbot and has been given a generally good review - 'a ballet to keep' says ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

''. Wheeldon was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for "services to promoting the interests and reputation of British classical and theatrical dance worldwide". In December 2016, Mr Wheeldon premiered his freshly choreographed ''Nutcracker'' along with the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. Instead of the traditional upper class party scene, Wheeldon has opted for a 'shack scene' which will take place in Chicago's south side. Marie will then be introduced to the enchanted world of sweets and foreign places. On Thursday 6 June 2019, Wheeldon's ''Cinderella'' in-the-round with English National Ballet was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall with over 90 dancers, and projections which created the fairytale setting. On February 1, 2022 '' MJ the Musical'' opened on Broadway. Wheeldon was nominated for Best Direction of a Musical and

Best Choreography The MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography is a craft award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and choreographer of the music video. From 1984 to 2007, the full name of the award was Best Choreography in a Video. The biggest winner ...

at the

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

, winning the latter.

Personal life

Wheeldon married

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

instructor Ross Rayburn in 2013. The ceremony took place on

Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. Occasionally, the name is used to refer collectively to not only the central island, but also Lon ...

, NY and was captured in a

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video by Daniel Robinson.

Honors

Prix de Lausanne The Prix de Lausanne is an international dance competition held annually in Lausanne, Switzerland. The competition is for young dancers seeking to pursue a professional career in classical ballet, and many former prize winners of the competition a ...

, Gold Medal (1991) * Mae L. Wien Award, School of American Ballet * Martin E. Segal Award,

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

, New York City * London Critics' Circle Award *

American Choreography Award The American Choreography Awards was a ceremony and show that honored outstanding choreographers in the fields of feature film, television, music videos, and commercials. They were first known as the L.A. Dance Awards (1994–95), then as Bob Fos ...

* Olivier Award * ''Dance Magazine'' Award * Prix Benois de la Danse–2013, best choreography ('' Cinderella'' by Sergei Prokofiev, Dutch National Ballet) * Prix Benois de la Danse–2015, best choreography ('' The Winter's Tale'' by Joby Talbot, The Royal Ballet) * 2015 Tony Award for best choreography 'An American in Paris' * Times Arts Award for Best Director of A Musical 'An American in Paris" * Outer Critics Circle Award Best Director of a musical 'An American in Paris' and choreography 'An American in Paris' * Broadwayworld.co.uk award for Best Director of a Musical for An American in Paris. * 2022 Tony Awards for best choreography 'MJ the Musical'

Footnotes

References

Carman, Joseph. ''The evolution of Christopher Wheeldon'', Dance Magazine, May, 2003
* Carman, Joseph. "Christopher Wheeldon: Making the Most Out of Both Ballet Worlds," ''Dance Magazine'', November 1996.

External links

City Center websiteArchive film of Christopher Wheeldon's Rhapsody Fantaisie in 2010 at Jacob's PillowMorphoses/The Wheeldon Company websiteSadlers Wells website
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