Bolshoi ballet dance for Briton
Updated on 13 August 2007
Aged only 34, Christopher Wheeldon is the first ever Englishman to choreograph a piece for the famous ballet troop.
'Elsinore' is a slow melancholic mood piece, some 25 minutes long. It is Christopher Wheeldon's balletic response to the story of Hamlet to music by the Estonian composer, Arvo Part.
Wheeldon has been thinking about doing a Hamlet ballet for some time. This collaboration was unique and initially difficult.
No British choreographer has ever been asked to create work for the Bolshoi before - not Kenneth Macmillan, not Freddie Ashton. And Wheeldon is just 34.
The Bolshoi dancers were suspicious; they didn't know anything about this Englishman. And didn't quite grasp what he was after.
There's a restless energy and ambition about Wheeldon. His career has astonished. He has been a dancer with the Royal Ballet, then with New York City Ballet - and then their resident choreographer. And now he's about to establish his own company.
The Wheeldon adventure continues. He's bringing his new company to Sadlers Wells next month.
There is a sense that in leaving New York City Ballet next year he is stepping out of George Balanchine's shadow and working towards finding his own voice. Many would say he's already found it.
