The evolution of Christopher Wheeldon.

During an orchestra rehearsal for New York City Ballet, Christopher Wheeldon rushes onto the stage from the audience, nimbly maneuvering over a narrow strip between the proscenium and the orchestra pit. He's on a mission to get his ballet, Morphoses, into proper shape. As Wendy Whelan and Alexandra Ansanelli listen, Wheeldon demonstrates an undulating phrase of movement and precisely counts the difficult score by Gyorgy Ligeti the way he hears it. They grasp it. He moves on, never wasting a nanosecond. Because of his meticulous working process and the unquestionable success of his ballets, it has become clear why Wheeldon, who turned 30 on March 22, has caused such a clamor in the ballet world (see "Christopher Wheeldon: Making the Most Out of Both Ballet Worlds," DANCE MAGAZINE, November 1996, page 50). In fewer than six years, he has choreographed twenty-three works for eight ballet companies, as well as a piece in the movie Center Stage and the Broadway show The Sweet Smell of Success. Now, more than ever, directors are ringing his doorbell. Having moved from his Royal Ballet roots to become an accomplished soloist with New York City Ballet, he gave up dancing two years ago to concentrate on his priority: realizing his singular capacity for choreography. He was even granted the unprecedented title of resident choreographer of New York City Ballet.

So how has Wheeldon done it? And what makes him special? His inherent qualities include a highly sophisticated taste in music, an adherence to and reverence for the academic brilliance of ballet technique, a knowledge of how to move dancers in space, and a lucid imagination to match his intelligence. Wheeldon has also absorbed much from his choreographic forefathers and yet has processed a style all his own.

"Ashton and Macmillan--that's my upbringing, so I can draw from that," explains Wheeldon, who grew up in Somerset, England. "I now have a very rich pool of influences from Balanchine and Robbins. I look at them as my teachers." Indeed, the cultured port de bras of Ashton, the dramatic undercurrents of Robbins, and the formal structure of Balanchine are all there. But he shuns comparisons and wants people to know he has grown up and is his own man, thank you very much. "I just want to make work that is mine. I feel I've taken a step away each time I create a new ballet, which is a good feeling," says Wheeldon, whose well-bred, preppy look has given way to stylish blond highlights.

An example of Wheeldon's burgeoning maturity--and his willingness to experiment--is his starkly fascinating triptych of dances to Ligeti's atonal music: Morphoses and Polyphonia for New York City Ballet and Continuum for San Francisco Ballet. "It's like looking at a series of etchings on the wall," he said. "You can see that they are stylistically linked but not necessarily thematically linked." He is also aware that audiences respond positively to his ballets because of his intention "to paint music, to show the complexity and the layers of music through the movement." About the first of these dances, Clive Barnes wrote, "There is not a step in Polyphonia that doesn't progress naturally from the step before it. The dance--prickly, angular--moves with the force of nature like the wind" (see Reviews, DANCE MAGAZINE, May 2001, page 71).

In May 2002, Wheeldon premiered Tryst, to the music of Scottish composer James Macmillan, on The Royal Ballet. Using twenty-two dancers and featuring Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope in the central pas de deux, Wheeldon negotiated the tricky balance between urban angst and fluid beauty. The ballet demonstrated Wheeldon's talent for dissecting stage space and his insistence that "the air around the dancer is almost as important as what's going on in the body."

The London critic Clement Crisp, seldom generous with his praise, said in Ballet 2000, "Tryst, in sum, is a splendid acquisition, and proof that the classic language can still say new and stimulating things."

Wheeldon's future commitments extend well into 2004. In addition to new works for San Francisco Ballet and The Royal Ballet, he will choreograph two premieres for New York City Ballet: Carnival of the Animals on May 14, featuring actor John Lithgow in a central role, and for 2004, plans are in the works for his first ballet to a commissioned score, composed by MacMillan. And then there is the full-length Swan Lake for Pennsylvania Ballet, a staging he has often dreamed of doing. He plans to be faithful to the original Petipa-Ivanov conception, although he admits, "where my personality will fit into the production, I'm not sure."

The Bolshoi Ballet has also requested that he choreograph a new Prokofiev Cinderella in 2003. "What the Bolshoi wants, the Bolshoi gets," says Wheeldon with a smile, demonstrating yet again his love of a challenge. "That will be a departure into another completely unknown territory," says the young adventurer, who is not shy about expressing his opinions. "They have a very strong idea for the way things are supposed to be, and I don't agree with a lot of their ideas. That will be interesting," he says with an even bigger smile.

Having been a respected dancer himself, Wheeldon understands the importance of dancers in the creative mix. Musical and imaginative ability figure significantly when he casts a work. "I want dancers who can create in their mind an atmosphere or an environment for themselves. Musically, I like someone who isn't predictable, who finds a way to shape the phrase of the movement and brings some sort of dramatic flair to what they do," he says.

Among his favorites are NYCB's Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto, whom he describes as "incredibly collaborative in the studio," and Alexandra Ansanelli. ("It's a bit of a tug of war, but she's really special," remarks Wheeldon.) Jenifer Ringer's dancing "tells you she's an open, generous person." And he cites San Francisco Ballet's recently retired Joanna Berman as the quintessential ballerina--"someone who takes what you give her and runs with it."

But don't assume that Wheeldon hasn't hit some career bumps in the road. As choreographer for the short-lived Broadway show The Sweet Smell of Success in spring 2002, he received lackluster reviews. Still, apart from those notices, he found everything about it stimulating and rewarding, including a newfound respect for Broadway dancers. Already on the rebound, he's in discussions about choreographing a production of Gershwin's An American in Paris.

Wheeldon has learned to take the reviews of his ballets in stride. "You don't hold too much importance on the good ones and don't hold any importance on the bad ones," he says with a laugh. He also knows he can be his own worst critic. While choreographing the sensational signature pas de deux from Polyphonia, his internal mental chatter kept telling him, "It's awful! What am I thinking?" And at a recent revival of his 1999 work Corybantic Ecstasies at the Boston Ballet, he saw plenty of choreography he would have chucked in retrospect.

At this pivotal stage of his career, as he experiments with new themes, music, and vocabulary, he knows he is under more scrutiny. "Now that I'm sort of considered to have `made it,' as it were, I don't have the security of being the up-and-coming 22-year-old anymore," he says. "With these great big steps I'm taking--and I'm thrilled that I'm taking them--you wonder if you're going to fail the next time, whether there's going to be another step."

What keeps him focused is his passion for choreographing in the studio, he says--a thrill he has felt whether working with stars like Darcey Bussell or workshop students at the School of American Ballet. And, OK, he does love a nice ovation on opening night, he says. But his biggest gratification may be in spurring new audiences to refute classical ballet's reputation as a white elephant: "I love it when a young person comes up to me and says: `This is my first time to the ballet. I'll be back, because watching your work has inspired me and I want to see more.'

Former American Ballet Theatre dancer Joseph Carman is a New York dance critic and contributor to DANCE MAGAZINE, The New York Times, and The Advocate.