#restless creature

Wendy Whelan: Restless Creature (2016) 

(I cried... I feel for her)

This is a great film for lovers of dance everywhere. 

Just watched the documentary Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan. OMG. So emotional. Just thinking of doing something for so long and then stop, or your body making you stop is quite sad but unavoidable. She danced with the New York City Ballet for 30 years, and at age 47 she'd be considered to be in her prime in almost any other profession, but not in ballet. And that breaks my heart, that the same body that she trained for so long to do those things is now unable to do them anymore. And the way she retired. Just wow. And all the love from the company, her choreographers, her dance partners, her ex partners, her husband, her family, her friends... just so much love. I'm not crying, you're crying.

Tina Fey, ballerina Wendy Whelan, and producer Diana DiMenna attend the 'Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan' Opening Night Screening at Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center on May 24, 2017 in New York City

Wendy Whelan, from the Restless Creature documentary (2014) 

by John Killacky, Executive Director An evening of duets with Kyle Abraham, Joshua Beamish, Brian Brooks, and Alejandro Cerrudo; Thursday, April 30 at 7:30 pm, MainStage. Get tickets at www,flynntix.org, “It’s the time in my life for me to do this—I don’t think I have anything to lose. I have only things to learn and places to grow, and there’s so much untapped artistry and expression in me. These collaborations can tap that artistry and expression in a new way for me.” Wendy Whelan is arguably one of today’s greatest ballerinas. Recently she retired after spending 30 years at New York City Ballet, dancing virtually all the major Balanchine roles and working closely with choreographers Jerome Robbins, William Forsythe, Twyla Tharp, Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon, Shen Wei, and Wayne MacGregor. She was Wheeldon’s muse in particular, appearing in 13 of his dances. In 2012, she began developing projects for the next chapter in her esteemed career. “Being a ballet dancer I was feeling the end of something, and I needed the beginning of something else. ‘Restless Creature’ is an exploration for me. I chose four young male choreographers from the contemporary world to make works for me to dance with them. I needed some new inspirations and some new challenges in my life.” The works created by these four dancer/choreographers—Kyle Abraham, Joshua Beamish, Bryan Brooks, and Alejandro Cerrudo—premiered in August 2013 at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and is performed at the Flynn on April 30. “She’s uncompromising, generous, bold, enthusiastic, adult, at the same time decisive and investigative. Few dancers in any genre show better that a work should be a process of self-discovery.” —Aliastair Macauley, New York Times dance critic on Restless Creature In January 2004, Baryshnikov thrilled Flynn audiences with his virtuosity and grace. Now Vermonters have the opportunity to experience another dance great as she evolves and expands her aesthetic range and artistic vision.

More Wendy!