Ballerina Wendy Whelan takes 'First Fall' at the Rialto

Wendy Whelan, one of her generation’s most accomplished ballerinas, remembers the premiere of “First Fall,” a duet created for and with her by postmodern choreographer Brian Brooks.

“I think I was more nervous than I’d ever been,” she said. “These two very different beings from very different worlds… literally colliding on stage for the first time,” she said. “We bonded, going through the fire of that first performance.”

The merging of opposites is central to the duet that laid the groundwork for "Restless Creature," an evening of postmodern and contemporary dance works created for and with Whelan. In each of four duets by choreographers Brooks, Kyle Abraham, Joshua Beamish and Alejandro Cerrudo, dancer and dance-maker move together. It's part of a 16-city tour launching Wendy Whelan New Works Initiative, and will run one night only, Jan. 27 at the Rialto Center for the Arts.

It’s a departure for Whelan, a risky venture on the heels of her retirement last fall after 30 years with the New York City Ballet. The move to contemporary dance is a major transition, but in some ways natural for the Kentucky-born artist. For much of her career, Whelan has been at the forefront of choreographic exploration and has helped many of the ballet world’s prime living choreographers to realize some of their best work.

Whelan is widely known for an artistic partnership with choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, who created roles for her in 13 of his ballets. In a New York Times profile, Alexei Ratmansky, who choreographed some of his most inspired ballets with Whelan, called her, “a major ballerina, exceptional and different.”

About three years ago, Whelan, in her her mid-40s, had danced almost every major female role in the company’s repertoire, but few new roles were coming her way. Younger dancers were moving into the physically demanding Balanchine roles. There were some parts for older dancers, but none that fit her distinctive style. She began to feel unwanted, as if the artistic staff were saying, “We’ve seen you for so long, and we love you, but we’ve got to keep this place moving.”

“I understood it, and it hurt, but it was just nature,” Whelan reflected. It was time to create her own opportunities.

She’d danced recently in a contemporary project by Stephen Petronio; and sensed she would be welcomed into this world.

That summer, Whelan saw Brian Brooks Moving Company at the Fire Island Dance Festival. She was captivated by the young dance-maker, influenced, like Petronio, by choreographer Tricia Brown’s postmodern aesthetic as well as Elizabeth Streb. Whelan was intrigued by his work, based on the physics of motion and principles of weight, force and momentum.

“It was a really interesting juxtaposition of him and his work,” she said. “He was sweet and smart and kind of preppy, and his work was so rigorous, and so intellectual, and urban.” Whelan had wanted to develop work in which dancer and choreographer perform together — ideally, to get closer to the source of artistic creation and to bring that special chemistry between dancer and dance-maker to the stage. Soon after, Vail International Dance Festival commissioned Brooks to choreograph a duet with Whelan.

Working with Brooks, Whelan found the artistic engagement she needed, and a sense that, she was loved, desired and enjoyed again as an artist. “He welcomed me to the other side, with open arms.”

Brooks was intimidated at first — not just because of Whelan’s artistic stature, but because their backgrounds were so different — hers, in the ballet aesthetic’s aim to defy gravity; his, where movement comes from giving in to the pull of gravity.

Nonetheless, Brooks found Whelan to be free of pretense, curious and available.

“There’s a clarity she brings that illuminates the process of exploration,” Brooks said. “That openness allowed us to find something and the sparks started to happen,” he said. “I, the more earthbound dancer, and Wendy, the more ethereal, skyward-bound, met in the middle, and this polarization began.”

It’s apparent in the last section of “First Fall.” The two begin at a low level, far from the audience. Brooks is on all fours, crouched against the floor. Whelan, whose body forms one long architectural line, lies on one side, facing outward, almost horizontally across his back. Like a mountain rising out of the earth, his rounded figure creeps forward, ascending, as Whelan leans on him, walking back up to vertical balance. She rises, arms reaching out to her sides in a tender, momentary triumph before she free falls forward, landing breathlessly on Brooks’ curved back.

“First Fall” is a personal piece for both artists. Brooks, working outside of his comfort zone, said he found his true choreographic voice.

To Whelan, the piece portrays their relationship — “how I feel about him, artistically; and what our relationship did for me, artistically,” Whelan said. “He’s been a really pivotal person for me in making these decisions, of my life. And I don’t think he realizes it, but just the wonder that he has evoked in me, for this other side, is profound.”