After the Rain, Ballet Lessons Part 1

I wish I could find the whole ballet for you, unfortunately, you will have to go see it.  I did manage to find a few clips for you to see, though it isn't the same as being there.  When Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall danced the pas de deux (they are not the dancers pictured above) you could have heard a pin drop among the hundreds of people watching.  Everyone was mesmerized.
Earlier in the afternoon, Grace and I had the priviledge of hearing Christopher Wheeldon talk about choreographing this piece.  At the time, he had just separated from his partner of 7 years, who was also one of the two dancers he created this piece on.  He said that it just sort of flowed out of him--and that perhaps it was a good-bye. The first time he saw the piece with music and in costume (same as first clip), they were all in a rehearsal room, and some of the other company members had quietly joined to watch.  He said he looked over at them as they watched the pair, and they were crying.  He joked that he wasn't sure if they hated it or loved it.  But really then he knew he had created something very special.
I appreciated his transparency.  He was acknowledging that talent is only part of what makes art. There are times when our experiences, our emotions, our thoughts--our deepest selves are deeply touched and out of that place can come a creative expression that moves itself out from our soul and into a piece that we never could have formed any other way.  I find something sacred about the human experience in that.  His piece was one of the highest expressions of beauty I have ever witnessed.  The only thing above that in the creative process, is a work of worship--when we create beauty in sync, in a partnership with the Creator.
I wonder what it would be like to see Wheeldon choreograph that kind of a work.
It's definitely a ballet I'd like to see.

For more pics of our trip see The B Girls Blog