Christopher Wheeldon

Christopher Wheeldon is to have a dance company of his own. Ballet lovers in America and Britain consider the 33 year old New York resident of English birth to be one of the few hopes for work that is both original and classical – or at least neo-neo-classical. His group, to be called Morphoses the Wheeldon Company, will shuttle between London’s Sadler’s Wells and New York’s City Center. That will begin in autumn, but the group’s debut is to be this summer at the dance festival in Vail, Colorado, USA.

Wheeldon, the artistic director and primary but not sole choreographer of Morphoses, will be helped in administrative matters by Lourdes Lopez, formerly a principal dancer with New York City Ballet. Regarding the dancers, no names are available yet but they’ll not be on extended contracts. Such a provisionary arrangement isn’t new. So have small ballet groups formed for touring when the permanent ensembles are on summer break, like Trey McIntyre assembled a group of dancers from several vacationing ballet companies, or Rasta Thomas – perpetual guest artist – who will form a Bad Boys group for the Jacob’s Pillow Festival.

Wheeldon is a man with a no-gaps schedule according to his ...