RANTING DETAILS Interview: Christopher Wheeldon

(Photo by Bruce Weber for Vanity Fair.)

One of the most disorienting things about my new passion for writing has been interviewing friends.  Fortunately, Christopher Wheeldon, Artistic Director of Morphoses, made my job easy.  Chris is always a pleasure to talk to; in addition to being an incredibly driven and talented individual, he's got a great sense of humor.  Doing this interview was a privilege, as one of the first ballets I learned at ABT was one he choreographed, and he's been an inspiration to me throughout my career. 

I'm thrilled to present the following interview to my readers, as it gives insight into Chris's creative process, his career thus far, what the future holds, and a glimpse into this season of his company.  Their season runs at City Center through this Sunday, so be sure to pick up your tickets today! 

ALSO: BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY FIRST EVER ARTICLE IN PLAYBILL!!!  I WROTE A PIECE ABOUT MORPHOSES THAT WILL BE INCLUDED IN ALL THE OCTOBER PLAYBILLS AT CITY CENTER!   

MM: What has your year been like? 
CW: It’s been interesting.  The first part of the year was very busy for me choreographing outside of New York. When I first decided to take on Morphoses, this year and last year were kind of already in place in terms of outside commissions were concerned. But since the beginning of the spring I’ve been back in town and able to be much more involved [in the company.] The next part of the year, after our performances in NY and London, my feet will be more on the ground in the City and I’ll be able to do a lot more in terms of pushing the company forward.  As a company we go to Sydney in January for the City Festival, which is our next big engagement.  And in the meantime, between City Center and Sydney, we’ll be planning next year: engaging dancers, looking at our budget, figuring out how we can keep taking steps forward to the goal of hiring dancers full time. 

MM:What is your day-to-day routine like?
CW: I come in to the office which we were donated downtown and work on schedules, contacting dancers, putting together the programming for the Sydney festival, and getting things organized for Vail.  Then there are the choreographers, and overseeing their music choices, and making sure their experience with Morphoses is exciting and as smooth running as possible.  It’s a never-ending list.   

MM: How did the end of your time at City Ballet influence your year?
CW: [During] my last few years at City Ballet I was creating one, or maybe two ballets a year, so I wasn’t really involved that much over there. So as far as my time and energy is concerned, it hasn’t changed that much.

It’s everything else that has to sort of be taken into consideration, like the travel and going overseas to choreograph.  I have to look very carefully at how I can make my schedule work, so I can devote a bit more time to being in the office, and to working on the plans for the future of Morphoses.  And still having the opportunity for going out and choreographing for the big companies.  I don’t want to lose those commissions, it gives me the opportunity to work with big groups of dancers, which I love, and I can’t do that with Morphoses.  We’re always going to be 18-20 dancers, maybe a little bigger at some point, but that certainly doesn’t offer me the luxury of a big corps de ballet.  So I do want to be able to keep going out and seeing what’s going on outside of NY; I think that’s important. 

CHECK OUT THE EXTENDED INTERVIEW AFTER THE JUMP!

MM: What goes into selection of the rep?

CW: There are quite a few factors that go into it.  Last year I had all of the dancers all of the time, so I had the luxury of having the dancers from City Ballet as well as the guest dancers for the full rehearsal period in NY.  This year, the City Ballet dancers are going on tour, so even though it didn’t conflict with the performance week, it conflicted with the rehearsal week.  So I basically had to put those dancers into ballets that they already knew and that could be thrown together pretty easily, with a little help from me, but with a lot of extra work from them.  Things like Polyphonia, most of the cast has danced before, and they can rehearse that while they’re away on tour.  Similarly some of them learned Monotones in Vail, so they can maintain that while they’re on tour.  Really it was tricky this year, it’s kind of like the company split in two the City Ballet group and then the group outside of City Ballet who is working with us in New York on all the new ballets. 

MM: How did the feedback last season influence this upcoming season?
CW: I think it’s always kind of a process of seeing what works and what doesn’t work, and certainly by no means do I feel like I’ve cracked it.  But there were elements that worked really well last year like the process films; people really liked the use of titles at the beginning of each ballet.  Which, I think, from my perspective, in some ways it makes people feel a little bit like they’re at a movie.  If you haven’t been to the ballet before, those elements sort of make you feel at home.  It’s something that we’re all used to, sitting in a movie theater more than at the ballet.  It’s another little way of making people feel comfortable and relaxed, and hopefully not a feeling where they are put in a situation where they are going to be watching something they don’t understand.  It’s so much a kind of a fear factor with audiences, where people don’t come because people are afraid that they’re going to come and sit there and be completely in the dark and not understand what they’re seeing.  These are all ways of making people feel comfortable.

MM: Were there any specific things that didn’t work last year?
CW: There was a certain amount of criticism that last year the programs were not varied enough.  There was a lot of my work on the program last year because of logistics and financial limitations.  I certainly learned from the programming last year in terms of what worked and didn’t work. 

I think overall the least successful part of our season was the critical reaction, the press, which was disappointing, but you know that’s completely out of our control.  I felt that I couldn’t have put a better group of dancers together and they were dancing a lot of really good work.  Perhaps there was a little too much similarity in some of the programming. But we were really thrilled with our season last year. 

MM: What was the biggest success of the past year?
CW: The audience reaction.  The feedback from people who hadn’t been to the ballet before who had a great experience and said they would come back to see us and other companies, that was really exciting.  We did pretty well financially; we came out at the end of the year with money in the bank, which for a start up company is practically unheard of. 

MM: How do you handle critical reception?
CW: I think really in the end you acknowledge it and you move on, you can’t really listen to any other voice other than your own, or those around you that you really truly respect.  I think every now and then there are valid points made that I take on board.  But I think for the most part it’s the same as when you get a good review, you have to take it with a pinch of salt.  It’s one person’s opinion and it may or may not reflect the general opinion.  But [critics] can be a pretty harsh bunch. 

MM: What was your experience with the company like in the different cities you toured to? 
CW: We experienced an incredibly warm reception from Vail.  I think quite possibly because as a town they really only get the dance coming in every summer.  I think it would be unfair to say they aren’t as discerning as the London and New York audiences, but they don’t have as much dance and I think they’re just really appreciative of all the performances.  We kind of experienced standing ovations after each piece.  It’s a great feeling; we love Vail!

[The audiences] were more reserved in London but still great. And we got a great response and reaction from the audiences in New York last year.  I’m really pleased with the way they audiences are responding to Morphoses. 

(Photo by Bruce Weber for Vanity Fair.)

MM: What role do the film clips play in the season?
CW: [They are] sort of becoming a signature of Morphoses.  We got a lot of great feedback last year because it feels to the audience like they are given extra insight into the rehearsal process.  Also people, if they’re sitting back far in the theater, enjoy the opportunity to see the dancers’ faces up close so that when they’re actually watching the piece, they can have a bit more of a connection with them. It’s become so much a part of Morphoses that this year we did separate fundraising for it, and we found someone who would partially underwrite the film so we could make sure we are making new updated films constantly.  Plus we just did this new choreography program in Vail and we had little process films for each choreographer, and those will get uploaded to the website.

MM: How can you accomplish bringing ballet to a younger audience?
CW: Through the films, and being as transparent as we possibly can.  Getting people exited through the internet and through the website, something as simple as the dancers posting blogs from Vail and also from New York.  Films from rehearsal which will be on the website. 

There are still so many plans in the works that can’t fully be realized because we’re such a young company.  At this point it’s kind of about getting the dynamic vibrant programs out onto the stage, and hopefully through word of mouth.  We did get a lot of feedback from people who hadn’t been to the ballet before, or from people who were taking people to the ballet for the first time and were very enthusiastic and said that they would be back next year.  At this point we have to rely on word of mouth and as much activity on the website as possible. 

MM: What is the selection process like for the dancers? 
CW: Well, obviously it’s at a really high level.  I am interested in dancers who are excited about a different experience than the one that they get in a big company.  Sometimes it makes programming difficult because potentially you have 18 “Star” dancers; it’s not like I can cast any of them in corps de ballet roles.  Although it’s made very clear that there are going to be ballets where they might be dancing a slightly lesser role than they are used to, but that would shift with them being cast in another part.  It’s a team effort, so even though I have Wendy [Whelan] and Maria [Kowrowski], and all of these wonderful dancers who are used to being Juliet, and Manon, and Odette, they come into a group where everyone is essentially treated the  same and is expected to kind of work the same way. 

What’s been wonderful is the cross pollination of ideas and styles, and seeing the dancers watching and learning from each other, and experiencing different ways of working with a choreographer; they kind of feed off of that and it creates a great energy.  I’m thinking long term that there might be something in this model; that it’s not necessarily that we’re going to be 20 full-time dancers, who knows, maybe we’ll be 12 full-time dancers and then yearly we’ll continue with guesting.  It offers dancers the opportunity to get away from their home situation with a big company without actually committing to leaving that company.  They come in and have a different experience, and then go back having reaped the rewards of this experience and go back to their company.  I think there are directors out there who are quite interested in that idea; one of them being David McAlister in Australia, he even has a program in the company where people donate money to actually send dancers away for six months to have that kind of experience.  I think it’s an interesting idea this kind of sharing, and even with productions in the long run.

MM: How do you establish the tone of collaboration? 
CW: Nobody is very good at checking their ego at the door; don’t forget we’re talking about star dancers here.  It’s the energy you create; it’s the way you treat people, the level of respect you offer them, the communication, making sure that everyone is really clear of what is expected of them with Morphoses before they come on board so there are no surprises.  [Problems] inevitably always crop up, but rather than kind of brushing them under the rug, which I think sometimes happens in a larger company environment, we just try to deal with them as best we can and make the dancers make them feel like the great artists they are…without catering to ego. 

MM: What are you drawn to choreographically?
CW: Obviously I want to be able to focus on new work as much as possible with Morphoses.  And that again is sort of a matter of logistics; rehearsal periods are quite short so choreographers that come in need to be willing to work under a certain amount of pressure.  This year we’ve got the Talledo’s designing scenery and costumes for my piece, and Narciso Rodriguez is doing costumes for Emily [Molnar’s] ballet.  So we do our best to make the creative experience as collaborative and interesting as possible with other artists too. 

I think I look for choreographers who are obviously still working within the realms of classical ballet vocabulary.  Stylistically I look to someone who will be a good contrast to my work and any of the other ballets that have been selected for the program.  Programming is a lot harder than I ever thought it would be.  Something can look really interesting on paper and you get it up on stage and in fact it’s a completely different recipe.  It’s sort of tricky and nothing is surefire; it’s not until you actually get it out there on the stage and see how these works dynamically go together that you can sort of tell.  I think programming is an art unto itself that needs to be respected. 

(Photo by Bruce Weber for Vanity Fair.)

MM: What are your expectations going into the second season at City Center? 
CW: I’m really pleased with the rep, and the placement of the rep, it’s exciting to have Polyphonia back.  It hasn’t been danced in NY in six years.  I always considered it to be one of my strongest works so I am happy that we’re doing it.  And it’s great to have Wendy [Whelan] in the cast because it was created for her.

Fools’ Paradise was really popular last year so we’re doing that again .  I think the dancers have really grown in that ballet since its premiere last year.  I’m really excited to be doing Monotones.  A lot of people keep asking, ‘why are you doing a ballet from the '60s?’  To me Monotones was the first real minimal British abstract leotard ballet that still remains a classic.  It was very influential for me as a growing choreographer.  I think it’s important to every now and then to put pieces on our program that show where we’re coming from aesthetically and we’re paying respect to our choreographic heritage.  So that’s why I put Monotones; plus it’s a fabulous ballet for both Wendy [Whelan] and Maria [Kowrowski].

MM: What is your choreographic process like?
CW: I don’t pre-choreograph at all.  It’s very much sort of a spontaneous with the dancers in the room creative process.  Obviously I get to know the music really, really well and I have an idea of structure, but as far as steps and things are concerned, that comes in the studio.   

MM: How did your time at City Ballet prepare you for this job?
CW: I think it’s interesting because City Ballet works very differently from other companies, as do the dancers.  It’s been really fascinating both years to watch dancers come in from outside and experience the kind of high speed City Ballet way of working.  [The City Ballet dancers] are so used to picking up choreography very quickly and not having an enormous amount of time to rehearse things; going out on stage with a sort of edge to the performance because of that.

I tried to take on the best qualities of that and tried to combine them a little bit with my years working overseas as a choreographer and a dancer.  I don’t think the knife-edge rehearsal process is always the best, but having said that, we don’t have a six week rehearsal period so we have to make it work as best we can in a short amount of time.  I think having worked in those pressure situations is also very beneficial because there’s sort of a no nonsense attitude that comes from me that’s the way companies respond to what is coming from the top.  As far as I’m concerned, ‘this is what we have guys, this is our period of time, we have to get it done in that time, I need you to know this from the beginning.’  That makes it very clear what’s necessary. 

MM: What is the most important thing for audiences to take away from a Morphoses performance?
CW: I want people to feel that they have had a sort of varied and broad artistic experience with Morphoses so that they’ve seen work that affects them emotionally.  I want them to feel like they’ve had a rich experience and been taken on a journey so it doesn’t all feel like the same thing sort of stirring the mind.  I want them to have been impressed and dazzled by the beauty of the dancers, which they will be because they’re such phenomenal dancers.  And also feel like they got to know a little bit about the dancers themselves, and the process, and what goes into the performance. 

I know it gets tiring hearing the choreographers and directors talking about letting people into the process, but I really feel like it’s the key in getting people to come back; when they feel they know a little bit about the dancer before they go to the performance.  That’s why the aim in the end is to develop the website so there is more than just a dancer’s biography, so that there are films, biographies, and hearing from the dancers personally. I think it does really improve the audience’s experience when they go in even knowing a little bit more about the ballet that they’re watching, or a little more about the people performing it.

MM: What are the plans for the expansion of Morphoses? 
CW: It’s sort of an open-ended possibility.  We do have a goal to be set up and running as a full time company by 2010.  But it’s going to depend very much on how things go in the next couple of years in terms of fundraising and that sort of thing. 

We know that we can put on a really, really fantastic performance.  For me as a choreographer the idea is to have a group I can work with on a permanent basis.  And have dancers so I’m not having to fit into a really tight window in terms of dancer opportunities are concerned.  [I hope to be able to] take a little more time with creation, and not work under such high pressure.  These are all things that come with dollars, and we’ve done really, really well over the past year in order to keep our heads above water.  But with the current economic situation it makes it a little tougher.  We just have to be creative and we get out there and make sure we’re convincing people that we’re worth the investment, which of course we think we are. 

Comments

[Rob]

Nice job Matt!

[jennifer]

wow, congrats m on the playbill article! that's amazing--think about all those tourist audiences watching "phantom" will read about morphoses :)

and thank you for the wheeldon interview--his piece for the sf ballet new works festival a few months ago was my favorite wheeldon piece.

[Barbara]

Great interview, Matt! Christopher is so correct about the audience wanting to get to know who the dancers are before the performance. It really makes the experience so much more enjoyable when you know a bit about the dancers you're watching. I'm fairly familiar with the City Ballet dancers but I'll do a little non-NY dancer research by going to the Morphoses website and to their company websites as well as You Tube. And I'm one of those audience members that really appreciate the pre-performance film. He was quite open with you about competing egos and how he handles that. It seems company directors need to be jacks of all trades, including, maybe especially, psychologist.
PS - Congrats on your BIP/BON shirt being featured in Gillian Murphy's dance bag in the current issue of Pointe magazine. They should have given ordering directions for their readers.

[reader]

I feel guilty that I got to read this insightful interview for free. :) Thank you so much Matthew!

[tonya]

Thanks for this informative interview, Matt!

[claudia la rocco]

I was blown away by "Monotones," and thrilled to see the many connections between it and "Fools' Paradise." Wheeldon is smart to be making clear his artistic lineage. And he seems to be steering the company in exciting directions.

But I'm not so sure about some of the company's marketing decisions. Did anyone else cringe to see the Dance Magazine mock up front and center in the City Center lobby? He looks like a peculiar tree frog, clinging on for dear life. And furious, too!:

http://www.dancemagazine.com/issues/October-2008/

Not exactly the most flattering image to greet arriving audiences.

M., do you have any thoughts on which dancers might join Morphoses full time?

c

[M]

Hey Claudia!

I think at this point all discussions about who will join Morphoses when it goes full time are strictly hypothetical.

Having discussed it with some of my friends in the company, I think everyone is enjoying the freedom of being a part of this project as well as their full time opportunities. While some have expressed interest in being a part of Morphoses full time, it's all a matter of when it happens.

On a slightly separate topic: wouldn't it be nice to see some ABT dancers involved? It's unfortunate that the timing of the season kind of prevents it, as I think pairing ABT and NYCB dancers could provide an interesting dynamic. Having done a little training at SAB and then danced at ABT, it's always been a goal of mine to organize something involving both companies. Maybe it's an idea that is better in my head than on the stage! :)

[Sophia]

Was I the only one who hated the picture on the front of the Playbill? Dance Magazine's cover I could deal with. The Playbill picture? Not so much. Thoughts, M?

[Rob]

Matt, there's really no time during the year in which both NYCB and ABT are both in downtime? Wow, must be a dance lovers dream in NYC then...lol. Oh, and on the topic of Morphoses, have they been out here in CA yet? I'm sure OCPAC would love to have them....