Morphoses: Christopher Wheeldon's ballet company

(Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company in Commedia. Photo by Erin Baino.)

Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, which wrapped up its 2008 season at New York City Center three weeks ago, is Christopher Wheeldon's two-year-old ballet company/project. The company performs for three months of the year and is an opportunity for him to play with creating his ballets outside of a major ballet company's commission. Many of the dancers for the company's brief season are drawn from the elite ballet companies he has worked with during his choreographic career, including New York City Ballet, the Royal Ballet, and several others (this year and last, the troupe performed a short season from August to early October at the Vail International Dance Festival in Colorado, Sadler's Wells Theatre in London and City Center in New York). Each season the company dances at least one new Wheeldon alongside previously successful Wheeldon ballets, and this year, there were also works from a few other choreographers that Wheeldon found interesting.

Wheeldon is one of the most sought after ballet choreographers of this generation; part of that interest is because he is one of an ever shrinking group of choreographers that is actually interested in working with and exploring the possibilities of classical ballet: that is, choreography firmly rooted in classical technique, usually involving women pointe shoes, classical turn out, port de bras, the whole nine yards. The other part is that in his choreography there have been glimmers of invention and originality. His aesthetic is contemporary yet classical, and he seems particularly interested in seeing how classicism works with the music and aesthetics of today's world. Thus he has been commissioned to create works for major ballet companies all around the world, from New York City Ballet, his home base for six years, to the Royal, Bolshoi, San Francisco ad Australian Ballets. One could see Morphoses as the place where Wheeldon has sought to establish his artistic vision.

The Morphoses program that I saw in New York three weeks ago (Sun, Oct 5) was the second of two programs that presented during the run, and my first viewing of the company. I enjoyed watching the program a lot, and it revealed as much about Wheeldon's way of looking at dance as it did about his actual choreography. There was his own work, showing the same talent for stringing together combinations of steps and creating fascinating pas de deux that unfurl across the stage, as well as his sensitive musicality, particularly for contemporary music. But also like some of his previous work, there were many individual moments that were clever and exciting, but the pieces as a whole weren't particularly memorable. They were, though, hugely enjoyable in the moment, mostly for the performances that the dancers brought to the choreography.

The curtain raiser was Commedia (pictured up top and above right), choreographed as the new ballet for this season and set to Stravinsky's Pulcinella Suite, with a vaguely commedia dell'arte theme. It is structured in episodes with the music: little commedia scenes and dances culminated in a group send off at the end. The highlight here was a pas de deux for Royal Ballet principal dancers Leanne Benjamin and Edward Watson. Benjamin is a wonderfully strong dancer (one of my favorites at the Royal) and Wheeldon choreographed her sections to suit her particular strengths - a steely, quick and athletic attack but still with an ability to slow it down lyrically. Benjamin was kept folding cleverly around Watson throughout the pas de deux. Then, later in the ballet, there was also a section where Benjamin danced with Beatriz Stix-Brunnell, a remarkable dancer whose story is even more remarkable when you find out that she is only 15 years old. Dancing right next to Benjamin, you would never guess her youth since she dances with such maturity, confidence and technical skill.

Bookending the program was Fool's Paradise, created last year for Morphoses' inaugural season. It is set to a score by Joby Talbot that is quiet, somewhat somber and tension filled. Neoclassical and flowing, the choreography had the dancers moving constantly across the stage, alternatingly in pairs and all male or all female groups. The feeling was haunting, particularly with the shiny confetti quietly falling in the background for much of the ballet. This was a more somber way to end the evening, much more serious in tone and weight. It stood in stark contrast to the more light-hearted Commedia, as if to say that Fool's Paradise is the statement of Wheeldon as a serious choreographer.

As interesting as it was to see Wheeldon's own work, it was the work of other choreographers that Wheeldon chose for this program that was ultimately more satisfying for me. What these selections showed about Wheeldon was the kind of work that he himself is interested in and watching. For me as an audience member, these three short also just a lot of fun to watch, and perfectly balanced out the program.

My favorite was Shutters Shut, a very unusual work by Nederlands Dans Theatre choreographer Lightfoot León (technically, Lightfoot León is two choreographers, Paul Lightfoot and Sol León, who frequently work together under this combined name). The piece is set to the rhythmic spoken patter of Gertrude Stein's poem of the same name, choreographed with constant, twitchy movements that ride on the stacatto beat of the poem's pitter patter. There were also wry comments on the text, shown with a chirping hand or a swivelling hip. The speed and the sheer oddness of the work was incredibly appealing to me, as were the two dancers, Christine Tomassen and Andreas Heise, both guests from the Norwegian National Ballet. Here's a video of the work, so you get an idea of what it looked like:

(Nederlands Dans Theater performing Lightfoot Leon's Shutters Shut.)

There was also Frederick Ashton's Monotones II, an oldie but goodie from 1965 originally created for the Royal Ballet. In a talk before the performance, Wheeldon said that he wanted to give the New York City Ballet dancers cast in these performances the opportunity to dance Ashton's choreography, which is not regularly peformed by City Ballet or many other American companies (ABT and the Joffrey are exceptions rather than the rule). The cast I saw was Wendy Whelan, Tyler Angle and Adrian Danchig-Waring, all three of whom who acquitted themselves admirably, I thought. Monotonies II a lovely, quiet ballet set to three of Erik Saties' famous Gymnopedies for piano (orchestrated by John Lanchberry); the movement is mesmerizing, as the three dancers intertwine and pose with the hypnotic music. The only odd thing about this performance were the costumes, which I know existed from the ballet's origins but now look a bit dated and bizarre: full while unitards and skull caps, bejewelled with sparkly rhinestones. One was the opener of the three-other-choreographers section, and was a hyper athletic pas de deux choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. The work premiered at Houston's Dance Salad Festival in 2008 and Wheeldon liked so much that he added as a last minute substitute for this program. Drew Jacoby and Rubinald Pronk danced it here. It at least looked incredible, with the two dancers flinging themselves around the stage, dropping into flexible extensions and splits. In fact it looked a bit post-Forsythe as well. Fun to see, but the choreography itself didn't feel particularly substantive beyond a showpiece.

The performance also incorporated video segments, filmed and produced by Benjamin Pierce. These were a great feature that helped to tie the mixed bill together. One feature showed Beatriz Stix-Brunnell, the youngest member of Wheeldon's company (15 years old, as I mentioned before!), going from her school day to ballet rehearsal, where she dances alongside 40+ year old prinicpal dancer Leanne Benjamin. After rehearasal, the camera follows Benjamin out of the studio and home to her adult life, showing her sipping a beer as she unwinds from the day. Another feature showed a dancer sewing up her pointe shoes - first shown once over a period of 30 minutes as the audience is being seated in the theater, then again before Fool's Paradise in super fast forward. The videos were amusing and well-produced, a great way to draw the audience into the company and the work that they were performing on stage.

Wheeldon's efforts to draw the audience into his work are probably the most endearing thing about Morpohses. It's not just about the dancing, wonderful to watch as it all is; Wheeldon goes a long way to create a whole experience for the audience, from the genial welcome speech that he delivers in person on stage to the effort he puts into the videos. It's a great way to come watch ballet.

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Writing this got me thinking about my experience watching Wheeldon's work. The bulk of his's work thus far has been seen in New York and London, with a few in San Francisco as well. He started his training at the Royal Ballet School in London, danced very briefly for the Royal before joining New York City Ballet, then after showing a particular talent for choreography, became City Ballet's resident choreographer from 2001 to 2007. In that time, he also created works for companies all around the world, including the Royal, San Francisco Ballet and many others.

Having lived in LA up until August, my experience of Wheeldon has been limited, but it has still been pretty fairly extensive if you consider how few companies bring new ballet on tour to LA. It could be seen as telling of his rising status that in one two year period from 2003 to 2004, every company that toured LA with a mixed rep program included a Wheeldon piece on the bill. Both San Francisco Ballet and New York City Ballet toured with Polyphonia, a neoclassical ballet set to Lygetti piano pieces, one of my favorites and the work that brought Wheeldon to attention in 2001; London's Ballet Boyz brought a clever commisioned piece called Mesmerics; and in that same time Mercurial Manouvres was also televised from New York City Ballet on PBS' Live from Lincoln Center series. More recently, I have seen Wheeldon's contribution to SF Ballet's New Works Festival (Within the Golden Hour), and new works at New York City Ballet (Klavier and Shambards) on various trips to New York.

Polyphonia remains one of my favorite Wheeldon ballets; I was so bummed to miss it this year when Morphoses performed it during the weeknights-only Program A of its City Center season (dang grad school outside the city!). I remember the goosebumps that ran up my arm as the lights quietly faded at the end of Miranda Weese's solo in the second third of the ballet. While that experience hasn't been replicated with most of his other work that I've seen, his work remains very interesting to me. And then I rewatched Within the Golden Hour last week during San Francisco Ballet's brief visit to New York City Center. I was positively giddy after the performance (but more on that when I get around to finishing my post on SF Ballet at City Center!).

So certainly, his work remains of interest to me, and I do get excited when one of his works is on a mixed bill program. I'll be interested to see where his work goes from here, and I'll gladly go to see Morphoses when it returns in 2008.

Additional photos - Second left: Commedia, photo by Erin Baino. Third right: Fool's Paradise, photo by John Ross.