Above: the Restless Creature, Wendy Whelan, with her four choreographers; clockwise from top left: Kyle Abraham, Brian Brooks, Josh Beamish, and Alejandro Cerrudo; photo courtesy of Ms. Whelan
Tuesday May 26th, 2015 - Wendy Whelan's RESTLESS CREATURE arrived at The Joyce this evening after an unforeseen delay: it was postponed from last season as Wendy was recuperating from surgery. In this production, the incomparable ballerina dances duets choreographed by four men - Joshua Beamish, Brian Brooks, Kyle Abraham, and Alejandro Cerrudo - and in each duet, she is partnered by the choreographer.
In July 2014, Wendy invited my friend Joe and I to the studio where she and Josh Beamish were rehearsing Josh's duet in preparation for the London premiere of RESTLESS CREATURE. Tonight, Joe and I had seats in the front row, the better to savour every moment of this imaginative evening of dance.
Musicians are seated on either side of the hall at audience level: pianist Rachel Kudo to our left and the Bryant Park Quartet to our right. It is a beautiful Max Richter cello solo played by the Quartet's Tomoko Fujita that opens the evening; as the house lights fade, the tall and charismatic Alejandro Cerrudo starts his 2013 duet EGO ET TU with a sustained solo, the music having passed to the piano. Wendy Whelan, clad in white, makes a modest entry from upstage and dances a pensive solo with a vulnerable aspect. As the music reverts to the strings, Wendy and Alejandro are alternately drawn together and pulled apart. The music, which includes works by Philip Glass and Gavin Bryars in addition to the Richter, provides a gorgeous setting for the silken movement of the two dancers, and - as throughout the evening - Joe Levasseur's lighting designs are a visual enrichment.
A brief interlude from the Bryant players gives Wendy time for a costume-change, and then we move directly to Joshua Beamish 2015 duet CONDITIONAL SENTENCES with Ms. Kudo at the keyboard for J. S. Bach's Partita No. 2 in C minor. Both dancers wear red shirts and grey trousers (I rather missed the long red skirt in which Wendy originally danced this piece) and the duet has the air of stylized courtship. Charmingly elusive, they cover the space deftly, 'speaking' to us, or to one another, in a wry gestural language. They seem very much like birds of a feather.
Kyle Abraham's darkly atmospheric duet THE SERPENT AND THE SMOKE begins in gloom with Kyle's slow solo suddenly erupting in a spastic outburst. Mysterious music - by Hauschka and Hildur Gudnadóttir - creates an ominous expectancy; then, suddenly, there's intense light. Warily, Wendy approaches Kyle and, to a lamenting theme, tenderness is cautiously explored in movement that is gorgeously stylized. Then silence falls and the dancing becomes more active. A lighting change makes a striking impact, along with a shift of pulse. The dancers pose on the floor as if in a mind-meld, and then, as the scene brightens, they rush about the stage in an enigmatic pursuit as Wendy's hair comes undone.
Music of Philip Glass ideally serves the Brian Brooks duet FIRST FALL which closes the programme. Reappearing in a daffodil-yellow frock, her hair flowing, Wendy dances a solo in silence. As the Bryant Park Quartet strike up, there's a fine sense of urgency to the turbulent duet for the two dancers. Being up close gave us an intimate experience as - in the the duet's most stunning passage - Wendy walks along the lip of the stage leaning on Brian's bent back. A dancer's trust in her partner is explored in a series of 'blind' fall-backs onto Brian's hunched body. As the music fades, the dancers walk upstage, Wendy leaning dependently against Brian into a slow collapse.
RESTLESS CREATURE might have been sub-titled "I Could Have Danced All Night" because that's exactly what Wendy did. It was a tremendous pleasure to watch her take on the variety of movement motifs that the four choreographers asked of her, and to find her so thoroughly invested in dance which speaks a very different dialect from that which she trained and grew up in. As she moves on now to other projects, she remains the fascinating embodiment of everything dance is and can be.