BWW Preview: A Conversation with Christopher Wheeldon at the Hong Kong Ballet

Tony Award winner and renowned ballet choreographer Christopher Wheeldon (AN AMERICAN IN PARIS) is now in Hong Kong for the Asian premiere of his short piece 'Rush', originated in 2003 for San Francisco Ballet, now performed by Hong Kong Ballet in their programme WHEELDON, RATMANSKY, MCINTYRE & THE BEATLES, which also features two other pieces, 'Le Carnaval Des Animaux' by Alexei Ratmansky and 'A Day in the Life' by Trey McIntyre with hits by The Beatles.

In one of the Hong Kong Ballet Salon Talks on last Tuesday, with Hong Kong Ballet artistic director Septime Webre as moderator, Wheeldon shared his inspiration of 'Rush' before a 20-minute preview of the piece by the Hong Kong Ballet dancers.

'Rush' is choreographed with the symphony SINFONIETTA LA JOLLA by Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu who had lived in America for a while. According to Wheeldon, Martinu's piece is 'very sunny, very sporty, [capturing] some of the expansiveness of California, the weather and energy of Californians.'

Wheeldon explained 'Rush' as a neoclassical ballet with classical ballet techniques, but it is very fast, with very high energy and precision work. There is a 'melancholy' part in the middle movement. Wheeldon thinks Martinu in the second movement somehow 'brings in some of his homeland into the piece', feels more Eastern European, thus Wheeldon choreographed a duet while the corp de ballet rushes through, with a 'race' by all dancers to the end for the last movement.

What Wheeldon explained is exactly what the audience saw after. As the preview went, it showed the high-energetic choreography as well as the precision work that 'Rush' requires for marrying Martin?'s composition. Before Wheeldon arrived two days before the salon talk, his close répétiteur Jason Fowler had already come to Hong Kong and had worked with the Hong Kong Ballet dancers on the piece intensively. The result is fruitful.

When Webre asked Wheeldon if there were any changes in the last two days for the piece with the dancers, any adjustment or correction, Wheeldon further explained that for 'Rush', there is not a lot of room to change instead of the middle section for the principal couple to be more individual. 'Rush' really is a technique-driven piece which is really quick, that Wheeldon thinks for most of the part, precision work (on angles, footwork, lines, etc.) is more important.

Regarding to his process, Wheeldon said, 'it all comes down to the music.' He has to know the music well in order to start his process. Most of the choreography is not done until the dancers are in the room, but the structure and the rhythm have to be well-informed to the dancers before choreographing the movements. A lot of the time is spent on understanding the phrases, and at the end, it is all about 'sculpting the music.'

Wheeldon is no doubt having a remarkable career in the past years, having two full-length story ballets produced for the Royal Ballet, ALICE IN WONDERLAND in 2011 and THE WINTER'S TALE in 2014. which the latter was praised by Nicholas Hytner, former artistic director of the National Theatre, suggesting that Wheeldon's version of THE WINTER'S TALE is better than the original.

Of course, one cannot turn one's eye away from AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, the big Broadway hit back in 2015 which marks Wheeldon's theatre directorial debut. Its West End version in 2017, featuring the same Broadway leads, former New York City Ballet principal Robert Fairchild and Royal Ballet first artist Leanne Cope, is now showing in Hong Kong cinemas as well.

There is a reason why Hong Kong Ballet has promoted Wheeldon as the 'Dance Icon' because he is now everywhere on a global scale.

However, Wheeldon's career started off with a series of coincidences. Beginning to study dancing at eight, Wheeldon was first attracted to dance by watching the chicken dance in a production of LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE on television, and with his parents who are art-enthusiasts, Wheeldon was supported to go to study at the Royal Ballet. In 1993, for recovering his injury, Wheeldon went to New York and eventually joined the New York City Ballet (NYCB) by accident, through joining classes there at first, then without having the idea to get a job, he was offered a role by the former artistic director Peter Martins when he went and visited a class Wheeldon was in, misunderstood that he was for the audition.

What is interesting is that Wheeldon did not decide to join NYCB right away. Martins asked Wheeldon if he would join the company, and Wheeldon needed time to know the repertoire of the NYCB first to decide. He then saw a vast amount of ballets by NYCB: THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS, the repertoire by Jerome Robbins, DANCES AT A GATHERING, etc. By the end of the week, Wheeldon decided to leave the Royal Ballet and join NYCB, at least for a year.

'And that was 25 years ago,' Wheeldon said.

For viewing the full salon talk of Christopher Wheeldon, please click the following link: https://www.facebook.com/hongkongballet/videos/10156330212850295/

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WHEELDON, RATMANSKY, MCINTYRE & THE BEATLES opens on tomorrow through Sunday at Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre

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