Ashley Wheater: The Joffrey Ballet’s Legacy and a Bold Midsummer Dream

In the mid-80s, I went to work for the Joffrey Ballet. It was just a job and I was not a fan of ballet. When I saw my first performance a few months later, I fell in love, and have stayed in love with dance since then. Working for this company changed my life forever.

It is exciting to have this spectacular company in Houston and an honor to get to know their artistic director, Ashley Wheater.

Ashley Wheater, artistic director of The Joffrey Ballet

Ashley Wheater, MBE, The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet

You began dancing at six and later worked with legends including Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, Rudolf Nureyev, Glen Tetley and Margot Fonteyn. Did you recognize the history surrounding you at the time, and what did they teach you beyond technique?
I did recognize the history, because when I went to White Lodge (lower school of Royal Ballet), you learn about not only the present company, but you also learn about the history of the Royal Ballet, and the history of dance in Russia, France, Italy. There was a very famous Russian ballerina, Galina Ulanova, who in her day, changed the way Russians interpreted roles, and I remember her coming to the Royal Ballet School and giving us a talk about her career. That is one example of hundreds.

We were both new to the Joffrey Ballet in 1985. We were doing Romeo and Juliet, which was a big undertaking for the company. You were wonderful as Romeo. What was it like working with Robert Joffrey on that project?
I think the thing about Robert Joffrey and that period was that he saw an opportunity to push the company in a different direction than where it was going, and if you look at that time, there was Cranko’s Romeo & Juliet, also Taming of the Shrew, Jeu de Cartes, a huge repertoire of Ashton, as well as Joffrey setting his sights on doing his own Nutcracker. So, you could see from Robert Joffrey his passion for wanting to take the company further, and being the first company in America to dance many of these incredible ballets was a privilege.

After The Joffrey, you joined San Francisco Ballet. How challenging was it to adapt to a company with a different artistic culture and way of working?
I grew up in the Royal Ballet, danced in London Festival Ballet where I was promoted to principal at 21, then Aussie Ballet, then came to the Joffrey, and then to San Francisco Ballet. The difference was that all those other companies were ranked except the Joffrey. Going to SF Ballet, I didn’t find it a challenge, but I appreciated that Helgi Tomasson gave me a repertoire that I loved to dance – George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, James Kudelka, William Forsythe and Helgi himself to name a few. I feel incredibly grateful that for me it’s always been about the work as opposed to the rank.

When you retired from performing in 1997 but remained with San Francisco Ballet, how did you navigate that transition?
I didn’t really have a choice. I had a terrible spinal injury that required major surgery in my cervical spine. And when I was recovering in the hospital, Helgi and his wife Marlene came to see me, and we had a long conversation. Helgi was adamant that I was going to stay with San Francisco Ballet in a different capacity, as rehearsal director and assistant to him. For that I am eternally grateful.

In 2007, you became the Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. How do you honor the legacies of Joffrey and Arpino while maintaining your own artistic vision?
I think a critical factor for me is having worked closely with Joffrey and Arpino. Seeing them take unbelievable risks within our art form and to never be afraid to take those risks has been a catalyst for me as a director. Our art form and our world are so broad and to limit it to one idea would be a disservice to the Joffrey Ballet, or any company.

The company brings together dancers trained around the world. How do you unite their different techniques and movement styles into a cohesive ensemble?
I think there’s a fundamental language of classical ballet and there’s no mystery to it. You have to be a technically strong dancer, you have to have the gift of musicality, and the depth of discovering what it is to be a greater artist. Having taught the company and coached and rehearsed them for many years, people say it is very clear the values that I honor within our art form.

Alexander Ekman’s Midsummer Night’s Dream is bold, sensual and visually spectacular. I have seen a few clips and WOW! This is not standard Shakespeare. What do you want audiences to look for beneath its humor and spectacle?
Having now worked with Alexander for many years on many different creations, what is brilliant about him is he is a master of movement and theatre. Because Alex has worked with the Joffrey a lot, there is this beautiful trust between the company and him, and vice versa, which allows us to push the boundaries. What is fantastic from my point of view is to see the company completely give themselves 100% to the work, and Midsummer requires so much: beautiful dancing, incredible skills of the stage. At its core, it’s a very moving, very emotional statement about the beauty of mankind. Alex always finds empathy within his work, and as an audience member, you can’t help but feel that, so the experience becomes fully rewarding.

With so many talented choreographers working today, what draws you to the people you’d like to have working with you?
I think it’s a huge, broad spectrum because we have so many, from Cathy Marston to Anabelle Lopez Ochoa, Chanel Dasilva, Christopher Wheeldon; you have to be able to do it all. You have to be able to understand what it is to do a very classical structured work like Sleeping Beauty (Wheeldon) and equally find the same discipline within any other choreographic repertoire. Dancers today need to be resilient physically, mentally, and emotionally, and that can be immensely rewarding.

You were appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire. What did receiving that honor mean to you, personally and professionally?
I received my OBE originally from Her Majesty the Queen, but actually King Charles was the one who gave it to me. But to be recognized for a contribution of an art form that is so deeply personal to me, and the belief and impact that it has, is probably the highest honor of my life. And being given my OBE by King Charles, who recognizes the importance of the arts globally as the patron of Covent Garden, we had much to talk about when I met him.

My last question. You have done so much in your career. Is there something you would like to do that you have not done before?
I think every day inspires me. Every day there is a new piece of music being composed, a new designer visually blowing us away, a new choreographer with an original voice. It’s a never-ending journey, and what I hope is that the generation today takes the values that I believe in and continues them to the future. You can never not respect the art form.

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