Wendy Whelan

Wendy Whelan

Wendy Whelan (IPAEng|ˈʍiːlən) (born 1967) is a ballerina and principal dancer with the New York City Ballet.

A native of Louisville, Kentucky (USA), she began her dance training with local teacher Virginia Wooton at the age of three. After performing as a mouse in The Nutcracker with the Louisville Ballet she joined Louisville Ballet Academy where she started formal training. In 1981, she received a scholarship to the summer course at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, joining as a full-time student a year later. [ [http://www.nycballet.com/company/personnel/artistic/whelan.html NYCB page] ]

Wendy officially joined NYCB in 1984 as an apprentice and she joined the company's corps de ballet January 1986. She was further promoted to soloist in 1989, and to principal dancer in 1991.

She has a repertoire of more than 50 ballets, including pieces by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, and others.

Whelan is particularly known for her angular body and muscularity particularly suited to the Balanchine style that strongly influences NYCB and that is mostly defined by a sense of fearless athleticism and limitless extensions. However, with Balanchine's death in 1983, a year after Whelan arrived at SAB, she only met him once.

The ballerina has openly spoken about conquering scoliosis after being diagnosed at age 12. [ [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Health+and+fitness:+thrown+a+curve:+on+conquering+scoliosis-a0152433175 Dance Magazine] ] [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JJ4LQQ Amazon.com] ]

She married photographer David Michalek in September 2005. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/fashion/weddings/11vows.html?ex=1184990400&en=d132a0ed71dddc7f&ei=5070 NY Times Article] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.nycballet.com/company/personnel/artistic/whelan.html Official NYCB Bio]


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