Christopher Wheeldon, OBE trained at The Royal Ballet School and joined The Royal Ballet in 1991. In 1993, he joined New York City Ballet and was promoted to Soloist in 1998. He was named NYCB’s first Resident Choreographer in July 2001. Since then, Mr. Wheeldon has created and staged productions for many of the world’s major ballet companies.
In 2007, Mr. Wheeldon founded Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company and was appointed an Associate Artist for Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. Mr. Wheeldon now serves as Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet. As Artistic Associate, Mr. Wheeldon has created many works for the company, including the full-length Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter’s Tale, both of which were co-productions with The National Ballet of Canada. In 2012, his ballet Cinderella premiered at Het Nationale Ballet and is making its way to worldwide audiences.
For the Metropolitan Opera, he choreographed Dance of the Hours for Ponchielli’s La Gioconda (2006) and Richard Eyre’s production of Carmen (2012) as well as ballet sequences for the feature film Center Stage (2000) and Sweet Smell of Success on Broadway (2002).
Mr. Wheeldon created a special excerpt for the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. In April 2016, he was the Artistic Director for the Fashion Forward exhibition in Paris at La Musee Arts et Decoratif.
In 2014, Mr. Wheeldon directed and choreographed the musical version of An American in Paris, which had productions in Paris, on Broadway, and in London. 2016 was The Joffrey Ballet’s world premiere of The Nutcracker reimagined by Mr. Wheeldon and he directed and choreographed the gala presentation of Lerner & Loewe’s Brigadoon starring Kelli O’Hara and Patrick Wilson at New York City Center in 2017. In 2018, Mr. Wheeldon staged two pieces in Tokyo: An American in Paris and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland while in 2019, Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale was performed by The Bolshoi Ballet. 2019 was also the premiere for Corybantic Games at The Royal Ballet and a re-staged version of Cinderella for the English National Ballet at Royal Albert Hall. In 2022, MJ The Musical opened on Broadway and a new full length ballet version of Like Water for Chocolate will have its world premiere at The Royal Ballet in June.
Among Mr. Wheeldon’s awards are a Tony Award for Best Choreography for An American in Paris, an Outer Critics Award for Best Choreography and Direction for An American in Paris, the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center, the American Choreography Award, the Dance Magazine Award, multiple London Critics’ Circle Awards, and the Léonide Massine Prize for new choreography. Mr. Wheeldon’s productions of Cinderella and The Winter’s Tale received the Benois de la Danse, and he is an Olivier Award winner for his ballets Aeternum for The Royal Ballet and Polyphonia for Morphoses.
In 2016, Mr. Wheeldon was named an O.B.E. and was made an Honorary Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Prix de Lausanne, Gold Medal (1991)
Mae L. Wien Award, School of American Ballet
Martin E. Segal Award, Lincoln Center, New York City
London Critics' Circle Award
American Choreography Award
Olivier Award
Dance Magazine Award
Prix Benois de la Danse- 2013, best choreography (Cinderella by Sergei Prokofiev, Dutch National Ballet)
Prix Benois de la Danse- 2015, best choreography (The Winter’s Tale by Joby Talbot, The Royal Ballet)
2015 Tony Award for best choreography An American in Paris
Times Arts Award for Best Director of a musical An American in Paris
Outer Critics Circle Award Best Director of a musical An American in Paris and choreography An American in Paris
Broadwayworld.co.uk award for Best Director of a Musical of An American in Paris
2022 Tony Award for Best Choreography for MJ The Musical
2022
MJ The Musical (Broadway)
Like Water for Chocolate
2019
Them/Us
2018
Corybantic Games
2016
The Nutcracker
2014
An American In Paris
The Winter's Tale (ballet)
2011
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (ballet)
2009
Tears of St. Lawrence
2008
Rococo Variations (ballet)
2007
The Nightingale and the Rose (ballet)
2006
Kings of the Dance
2005
After the Rain (ballet)
An American in Paris (ballet)
2003
Carnival of the Animals (ballet)
Liturgy (ballet)
2002
Carousel (ballet)
2000
Mercurial Manoeuvres
1999
Scènes de ballet (Wheeldon)
For The Royal Ballet:
Tryst
DVG:Danse a grande vitesse
Electric Counterpoint
‘Trespass’ (Metamorphosis: Titian 2012 in collaboration with Alastair Marriott)
Aeternum
Strapless