NYCB Vol. 18 No. 4 - Agon, Wendy Whelan

Lauryn Johnson
Apr 28
1 min read

Albert Evans and Wendy Whelan. Photo by Paul Kolnik

Wendy Whelan describes the impression that Balanchine's Agon made on her when she saw it for the first time at age 14, while spending her first summer in NYC as a student.

"That summer, I witnessed ballerinas spinning across the stage so ridiculously fast that I almost felt blinded by them. I was spellbound by a team of Amazonian women in red kilts kicking their legs so high and with such attack that it left me breathless. I remember a flaxen-haired woman dancing the second trio in Balanchine’s 'Agon,' as two men elegantly clapped out the beats of her castanet solo behind her, feeling as if I’d been struck by lightning. In that moment, I discovered the dancer I wanted to one day become: a dancer devoted to choreography and choreographers, a dancer who could become a vessel for music, a dancer who would offer her best self in every inch of her work.

"Sitting in the dark theater, I vowed to explore the mysteries of Balanchine’s creativity and of my own notions of beauty."

This excerpt comes from Wendy Whelan: The First Time I Danced a Balanchine Ballet (the Day He Died) written in 2017.