Wendy Whelan
| Wendy Whelan | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 7, 1967 |
| Occupation | ballet dancer |
Wendy Whelan (/ˈhwiːlən/; born May 7, 1967) was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and is a guest artist with The Royal Ballet and the Kirov Ballet and has performed all over the U.S., South America, Europe, and Asia. Whelan has also been an influential guest artist with Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company.
A native of Louisville, Kentucky (USA), she began her dance training with local teacher, Virginia Wooton, at the age of three. At the age of eight and after performing as a mouse in "The Nutcracker" with the Louisville Ballet, she joined Louisville Ballet Academy, where she started formal training. At the age of 12, it was discovered that Whelan had severe scoliosis. To help correct the curvature in her spine, she wore a heavy plaster cast while in ballet class but also strengthened her core and back muscles. In 1981, at the age of 14, 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.
Wendy joined NYCB in 1984 as an apprentice and entered the company's corps de ballet January 1986. She was 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, Shen Wei, Wayne McGregor, Alexei Ratmansky, and others.
...
Wikipedia