2:00 pm | $12/$10 members/$6 under 12 | 1 hr 30 min | Documentary
Long Awaited Documentary About One Of America’s Most Acclaimed Dancer
What makes a ballerina a BALLERINA? Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan, is a feature-length documentary film that offers an intimate portrait of d
ancer Wendy Whelan as she prepares to leave New York City Ballet—her artistic home for an amazing 30 years. ’If I don’t dance, I’d rather die’—I’ve actually said that, says Whelan at one point in the film, as she talks about leaving the only environment she knows, and facing what comes next. Whelan’s unflinching honesty, her tireless determination, and her winsome attitude—along with her breathtaking dancing—make this film, directed by Linda Saffire and Adam Schlesinger, not just a fascinating portrait of an artist grappling with change but also a delight to watch.
Says director Schlesinger, “As the story emerged, it became really important to us to tell it. Yes, Wendy is one of the great dancers of our time. But hers is also a universal story about maybe not being able to do something that you’ve done your entire life. Most people, when they’re 46 years old, they’re just hitting their stride in life. She had to figure out: What am I going to do next? It’s a coming of age story.”
The film features interviews and footage of artists in performance that read like the pantheon of American dance in our era: Kyle Abraham, Jared Angle, Tyler Angle, Peter Boal, Emily Coates, Albert Evans, Robert Fairchild, Maria Kowroski, Peter Martins, Sara Mearns, Tiler Peck, Alexei Ratmanski, Jock Soto, Sean Suozzi, Damien Woetzel, and Christopher Wheeldon. Also it includes choreographic excerpts from works by Jerome Robbins, Christopher Wheeldon, George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Alexei Ratmansky, Alejandro Cerrudo, Kyle Abraham, Josh Beamish and Brian Brooks. Simply amazing!