Beyond the Barre

25 - Wendy Whelan

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For our 25th episode (recorded May 26th, 2020), we are thrilled to have as our guest Wendy Whelan: former principal dancer and current associate artistic director of the New York City Ballet, widely considered one of the world’s leading dancers of her generation.

During her 30 years at the New York City Ballet—23 of them as a principal dancer—Wendy danced virtually all the major roles in the company’s repertoire and also developed a reputation for being a choreographer’s muse, creating many original roles with the foremost dancemakers of our time.

A documentary, entitled Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan, was released across the country in 2017, and is now available on iTunes and Amazon. The film recently won the Chita Rivera Award for Best Dance Documentary.

Join us for this conversation to hear Margaret and Wendy talk about:

  • The formative years Wendy spent in treatment for severe scoliosis and how that experience transformed her attitude toward challenges
  • What it was like joining NYCB shortly after Balanchine’s death
  • How Wendy’s mother, a college basketball coach, instilled in her an interest in and appreciation for sports psychology and how psychotherapy helped her in her career at NYCB
  • Two unexpected qualities Wendy believes dancers can tap into in order to become better artists
  • Words of wisdom from Wendy (can we make that a thing if it isn’t already??) on working in the studio with choreographers on new creations and how bringing authenticity and a spirit of play to the process helped build her reputation as being a muse for choreographers like Christopher Wheeldon and Alexei Ratmansky
  • The connection between the mind and the body being in conversation when it comes to growth, change, and injury
  • Exploring the parallels between two times of heavy transition for NYCB: when Wendy first joined the company after Balanchine’s death, and last year when she assumed the position of NYCB’s associate artistic director

    • We couldn’t have made it to 25 episodes with you all—so thanks for listening and supporting the show, and here’s to many more episodes to come!

    - - -

    For more information, as well as any links, see the blog post for this episode:

    https://www.margaretmullin.com/episodes/episode-25-wendy-whelan

    Follow Beyond The Barre:

    https://www.instagram.com/beyondthebarrepodcast/

    Wendy Whelan:

    https://www.instagram.com/wendyw/

    https://www.wendywhelan.org/about/

    https://www.nycballet.com/

    Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan (documentary film):

    https://www.restlesscreaturefilm.com/

    Host: Margaret Mullin

    http://www.margaretmullin.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/margaretmullin/

    Producer: Sarena Fishman Jimenez

    http://www.sarenafishman.com/

    http://instagram.com/sarenafishman

    Music: William Lin-Yee

    https://soundcloud.com/williamlinyee

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    Beyond the BarreBy Margaret Mullin
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