With sold-out audiences and top national critics looking on, the international debut of Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company last summer in Vail proved to be a heady coming-out party.
“Could any new ballet company have begun with more goodwill and eager applause than Christopher Wheeldon’s Morphoses?” wrote New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay.
But returning for its second residency at the Vail International Dance Festival, which culminates at 7:30 tonight with a performance at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, some of that initial luster has worn off.
Along with the considerable hype the new company generated came some pointed criticism as well, not only in Vail but also during its subsequent appearances in New York and London.
Sounding a bit chastened, artistic director Wheeldon, one of the most sought-after choreographers in the world, did not hesitate to acknowledge the lumps the company took.
“It was kind of disappointing but also to be expected,” he said before a rehearsal earlier this week in Vail. “There was a lot of buildup for us last year and a lot of press. One gets built up to the point where it’s very easy to be in the position where people can pull you back down again.
“I don’t have an enormous wealth of explanation as to why that was the case. I think maybe we were in a position of the expectations being perhaps a little too high. I think it was probably quite easy to forget that we’re still a very young company.
“Even though the caliber of dancing is really high and we have all these wonderful dancers from all over the world, we were still very much trying to get up on our feet.”
In retrospect, Wheeldon wonders if the reception in Vail, especially the presence of major critics with pens at the ready, wasn’t too much, too soon.
“It was great to have the support of The Times and all the critics coming out and seeing us,” he said, “but I think the original intention was that Vail would be a place for us to kind of make our first appearance under slightly less pressured circumstances.”
Though perhaps a bit more clear- eyed about the challenges his company faces as it works to get established, Wheeldon remains resolute in his previously stated goal of a permanent New York-based group of 20 classically trained ballet dancers who will perform 35 to 38 weeks a year.
“We’ve grown,” he said. “We’ve done pretty well as far as our finances are concerned from last year, and also just artistically we’ve grown in the way we’re programming this year. So, I feel like we’re following our mission. We’re moving forward in the right direction.”
The company will again offer a series of performances in New York and London later this year, and it will make its first appearance at the Sydney (Australia) Festival in January. Pending are appearances in such cities as Amsterdam and Dallas.
Much as it did last year, the company is bringing 18 freelance dancers to Vail from such international companies as the New York City Ballet, Royal Ballet in England and Ballet du Grand Theatre de Genève in Switzerland.
“At this point, we’re still in a position where we’re building infrastructure so we can hopefully go ahead and hire full-time dancers soon,” Wheeldon said. “But that’s all very much dependent, obviously, on fundraising and getting everything in its place.”
On Wednesday, the company presented UpClose, an intimate evening at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek, where it offered glimpses of three in-progress works by choreographers Adam Hougland, Edwaard Liang and Pontus Lindburg.
Tonight’s larger-scale program at the Ford Amphitheater will be highlighted by two selections by Wheeldon — “There Where She Loved,” which the Royal Ballet debuted in 2000, and “Fools’ Paradise.” Morphoses presented the first half of the latter piece last summer in Vail while it was still in the works and premiered the completed ballet last year in London.
Also on the program are Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s pas de deux, “One,” and the noted pas de deux from “The Dream,” Frederick Ashton’s 1964 adaptation of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
If reviews of Morphoses’ performances last year at Vail were mixed, Wheeldon could hardly been more pleased by the enthusiastic ovations from audiences. And he’s hoping for a similar response this year.
“It was fantastic,” he said. “The reception was wonderful. The public were incredibly warm. Everyone was very supportive. It seemed like there was a lot of goodwill behind the launch of Morphoses up here, which, of course, made it exciting for us to come back again this year.”
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company Ballet
Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, Vail. The Vail International Dance Festival presents the second-annual appearance of Christopher Wheeldon’s recently established company. 7:30 p.m. today. $17-$85. 888-920-2787 or .
