© Holger Badekow Ballet.co Christopher Wheeldon interview Wheeldon conversation with Mary Brennan SFB's Wheeldon Bill reviews Edinburgh International Festival, 2003 Carnival of the Animals reviews Tryst reviews Continuum reviews Giannandrea Poesio Weblog on Ballet.co Suzanne McCarthy reviews

Most of those coming to the performances will be Wheeldon, if not ballet, virgins. So will they be able to make sense of what they see? Yes, according to Poesio, for Wheeldon composes dances that are accessible and modern, tuned into the quick, changing images that are the visual expressions of 21st century communication. His dances demonstrate ballet as being very much a democratic, not elitist, art form, with an immediacy and clarity that appeals to modern audiences.

Arguing convincingly that to attribute a distinctive style to Wheeldon at this early stage would be wrong, Poesio used his talk to highlight certain "themes" and attributes found in Wheeldon's wide ranging work (ballet, the musical stage and movies to date). While Wheeldon, particularly through his Royal Ballet training and experiences at New York City Ballet absorbed and reflects the influences of Ashton, Balanchine and Robbins, Poesio feels that some critics have been too quick to label his work as being in one of their particular styles.

Poesio noted that Wheeldon has so far tended to concentrate on creating plotless ballets, rather than setting narratives, (his Carnival of the Animals dance theatre piece being the exception). Wheeldon's interest and primary objective lies in exploring the possibilities that ballet grammar can provide. Poesio illustrated this point with reference to Wheeldon's, Tryst, his recent work for the Royal Ballet. In that piece, as with his other work, Wheeldon is, in Poesio's view, continuing to evolve the ballet genre into the 21st century, rather than, say, like Forysthe, working at its deconstruction.

Christopher Wheeldon
Photograph by Holger Badekow ©

Wheeldon's pieces are, according to Poesio, enriched by their eclectism, with Wheeldon effectively adapting ideas for movements from other dance idioms. Hip-hop and breakdancing all enrich his vocabularly, but their influence does not result in Wheeldon's work being either simple or simplistic. His intense strength is his musicality. Unlike some choreographers that turn a ballet score into steps, Wheeldon, Poesio argues, uses the music in a contemporary way, leading the audience down a path only to avoid the expected and typical dance solution, often in association with a shift in the music's score.

In conclusion, Poesio stressed certain hallmarks of Wheeldon's choreography. First, his use, and clarity, of patterns - how dancers enter, exit and locate themselves on stage. Second, the acrobatic nature of the movements he asks his dancers to perform. These are not gratuitous, circus style exhibitions, but rather tests of versatility, as he searches to express new accents to mark the established vocabulary. Then, there are Wheeldon's continual references to other forms of dance, particularly street dance. Fourth, is Wheeldon's strong musical sensitivity. His choices of music - Ligeti, Weill, James MacMillan - have shown an unusually refined and sophisticated taste. He has neither gone for easy listening or easily danceable compositions. Finally, there is his sense of humour.

In conclusion, Poesio sees Wheeldon as an innovator who, with his award winning piece, Polyphonia, established himself as a man who can say new things with ballet. And, without such individuals, what would ballet eventually become?