DanceMasters Weekend: Master Class - Wendy Whelan: Ballet

Saturday, March 7, 2015 at 10:00am
Cross Street Dance Studio

$19 per class, $13 for Wesleyan students

Saturday, March 7, 2015 from 10am to 11:30am

Wendy Whelan will teach a ballet Master Class that will provide an opportunity for intermediate to advanced dance students and dance professionals to explore diverse dance techniques during her first time teaching at DanceMasters Weekend.

Wendy Whelan is 30-year veteran of the New York City Ballet and has been described as “America’s greatest contemporary ballerina” (New York Times).

Wendy Whelan was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where at the age of three she began taking dance classes with Virginia Wooton, a local teacher. At age eight she performed as a mouse with the Louisville Ballet in its annual production of The Nutcracker. Joining the Louisville Ballet Academy that year, she began intense professional ballet training. In 1981 she received a scholarship to the summer course at the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet, and a year later became a full-time student there. In 1984, Ms. Whelan danced as an apprentice with New York City Ballet and became a member of New York City Ballet's corps de ballet in January 1986. She was promoted to the rank of soloist during the 1989 spring season and to the rank of principal dancer in the 1991 spring season. Ms. Whelan has performed a wide spectrum of the Balanchine repertory and worked closely with Jerome Robbins on many of his ballets. She has originated featured roles in seven ballets by Christopher Wheeldon and all four of Alexei Ratmansky’s ballets made for New York City Ballet, as well as in the ballets of William Forsythe, Wayne McGregor, Jorma Elo, and Twyla Tharp.

DanceMasters Weekend is a two-day immersion in contemporary dance, featuring twelve Master Classes and a Choreographers Conversation.

A Weekend Pass, which includes five Master Classes, is $75 for the general public (plus a $6 class registration fee), or $55 for Wesleyan students.

Master Classes: Saturday, March 7, 2015 from 10am to 5pm

Master Classes: Sunday, March 8, 2015 from 11am to 4:30pm

Classes are designed for students with intermediate to advanced dance experience. Master Class teachers will incorporate technique and movement combinations from their repertoire.

Call 860-685-3355 or e-mail boxoffice@wesleyan.edu to join the DanceMasters mailing list.