Principal Dancer Wendy Whelan Bids Farewell to the NYC Ballet in Special Performance Tonight

New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Wendy Whelan will bid farewell to New York City Ballet with a special one-time-only performance tonight, October 18 at 8 p.m. For the occasion, two of the dance world's most acclaimed choreographers, Alexei Ratmansky and Christopher Wheeldon, will collaborate on a world premiere piece d'occasion for Whelan.

Additional repertory for the evening will feature performances of some of Whelan's signature roles with New York City Ballet, including The Sleepwalker in George Balanchine's La Sonnambula; excerpts from Jerome Robbins' Dances at a Gathering and Ratmansky's Concerto DSCH, which was created for Whelan in 2008; and the pas de deux from Wheeldon's After the Rain, which was created for Whelan in 2005.

For the new ballet, the choreographers will use excerpts from Recomposed: Vivaldi - The Four Seasons, Max Richter's 2012 reworking of Vivaldi's classic score, with Wheeldon and Ratmansky each creating two movements of a four movement ballet. The new work will also feature NYCB Principal Dancer Tyler Angle and Soloist Craig Hall, two of Whelan's current partners at NYCB.

Since the premiere of Polyphonia in 2001, Wheeldon has created leading roles for Whelan in seven of his works for NYCB; and she has originated leading roles in all three of the works that Ratmansky has created for NYCB since 2006. During the 2014 Fall Season Whelan will also create a leading role in Ratmansky's newest work for NYCB, set to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, which will premiere on Thursday, October 2.

On Monday, October 6 on the stage of the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, NYCB will also present a special 90-minute conversation between Whelan and Tyler Angle, her colleague and fellow NYCB Principal Dancer, that will explore both Whelan's 30-year career with NYCB as well as her future plans. General admission tickets for this special NYCB Seminar presentation, which begins at 6 p.m., are $15 (free to NYCB donors), and are available online at nycballet.com, by phone at 212-496- 0600, or in person at the David H. Koch Theater box office.

Tickets for Whelan's October 18 farewell performance are now sold out, but Whelan is scheduled to dance at additional performances throughout NYCB's 2014 Fall Season beginning with Company's Fall Gala on September 23, when she will perform Christopher Wheeldon's This Bitter Earth, which was created for her in 2012, and which she is also planning to perform throughout the Fall Season. Whelan's repertory will also include La Sonnambula and the pas de deux from After the Rain. For a complete schedule of dates and times, and the latest casting information for NYCB's 2014 Fall Season visit nycballet.com.

One of the most renowned dancers of her generation, Whelan has performed with NYCB for 30 years, having first danced with the Company as an apprentice beginning in 1984. She became a member of the corps de ballet in 1986, was promoted to Soloist in 1989, and became a Principal Dancer in 1991. During her extraordinary career with NYCB, Whelan has danced leading roles in countless works by NYCB co-founding choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, and has also had roles created for her by a vast array of choreographers, including Robbins, NYCB's Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins, Jorma Elo, William Forsythe, Wayne McGregor, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Twyla Tharp, Ulysses Dove, and numerous others.

Following her final performances with New York City Ballet, Whelan will continue to dance in a number of projects including a United States tour of Restless Creature, the evening-length program of original works by Kyle Abraham, Joshua Beamish, Brian Brooks, and Alejandro Cerrudo that she premiered at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in 2013. Whelan is also developing a second program of new works with Royal Ballet Principal Dancer Edward Watson, which is scheduled to premiere in London in July of 2015. In addition, Whelan has recently been appointed Artistic Associate at New York's City Center, which will serve as her home for developing future projects for the next two years, and is scheduled to host the New York premiere of her collaboration with Watson during the spring of 2016.

To purchase tickets for NYCB's 2014 Fall Season, or for more information and complete schedule and casting information, visit nycballet.com. Tickets are also available at 212-496-0600, or at the David H. Koch Theater box office, located at West 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The Travelers Companies, Inc. is the Global Sponsor of New York City Ballet.