John Welker

Next Chapters: Atlanta Ballet’s John Welker on Retiring from a Professional Dance Career

January 25, 2017 by Rachel Hellwig

John Welker in "Seven Sonatas." Photo by Charlie McCullers. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet. — John Welker in “Seven Sonatas.” Photo by Charlie McCullers. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet.

“No matter how a dancer feels about their retirement and what they felt they did or did not accomplish, it is important to know you do not have to retire from dance altogether.” – John Welker

John Welker just completed a 22-year career with Atlanta Ballet, finishing with performances of John McFall’s Nutcracker in December 2016. Retirement can be a challenging time for a dancer and Welker offers thoughts and advice for those who are going through the process, considering it, or just want a window into this period of a dancer’s life…

How did you come to realize it was the right time to retire? What advice would you give to dancers who are trying to determine if this is the right decision for them?

For me personally, I could feel the time to retire from dancing was coming for several years – so it wasn’t some singular “ah ha” moment, it was a gradual process. While my body was holding up without injury and I felt great physically, I also knew my interests were increasingly outside the dancing studio. So, when it came to a point when I could feel a sense of ease when thinking about a life without the daily stresses of dancing, I knew it was time to retire.

Everyone is different, so there is no common template or universal path to retirement, but I do believe in trusting one’s own intuition as to what is best for your career and life. Overall, I would say trust your heart first, then act with your mind.

What’s next for you? How long have you been planning your second career? How soon do you think dancers should begin planning their second career?

I’ve been working at a dance degree at Kennesaw State University since 2009, so I’m looking forward to completing my undergraduate education in May 2017. I also will be applying for graduate school in Business and hope to begin working towards an MBA as soon as September 2017.

No time is too early to begin thinking about a second career, especially for professional dancers. Although dancers shouldn’t add more stress to themselves when they are dancing (there’s enough hardship to go around), it’s best to start at least exploring second career options incrementally when you have the luxury of time ahead of you.

Tara Lee and John Welker in "Four Seasons." Photo by Kim Kenney. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet. — Tara Lee and John Welker in “The Four Seasons.” Photo by Kim Kenney. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet.

What aspects of retirement have been harder or easier than you initially expected?

It is the ease of a structured daily schedule that you become so accustomed to when dancing. To not have that can be both liberating and terrifying. Also, we as dancers take for granted the community of creative people that we are always surrounding ourselves with on a daily basis. To not have that anymore to such a degree is also hard.

What have these past few months have been like as you concluded your dance career?

I have just started my post-dancing life, as you could call it, so I shall see as I progress. But I do know that I want to take it with a sense of adventure, in that to be uncomfortable is not a bad thing and to put yourself in situations which you might feel out of your element can be a very good thing. Also, I also want to be sure I stay physically active in some capacity, I know that will be very important to my sanity and health.

What advice would you give to dancers going through the process of retirement?

Retiring from a life’s passion is such a personal decision. No one is the same, nor are the circumstances surrounding one’s retirement from dancing which can dictate or determine why one decides to move on. But no matter how a dancer feels about their retirement and what they felt they did or did not accomplish, it is important to know you do not have to retire from dance altogether.

It’s important to note moving on from a professional dance career is a process and not just a momentary happening that signifies a complete break. Also, I feel dancers should cherish and value their accomplishments and memories, for these are the things that are yours to keep and cannot be taken away.

I believe it is very important for dancers to find what they are passionate about as they navigate a second career choice. What are the things that give back to you and make you feel like you’ve accomplished something? There are so many ways, other than dancing, to further enjoy and support dance that can give you a sense of fulfillment.

Don’t size up or confuse your personal path with someone else’s. And, most of all, enjoy whatever you set out to do!

Dancers-John-Welker-and-Christine-Winkler-The-Four-Seasons.-Photos by Kim Kenney. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet. — John Welker and Christine Winkler in “The Four Seasons.” Photos by Kim Kenney. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet.

Dancing In The Summer Wind

July 25, 2016 by Rachel Hellwig

By Rachel Hellwig

Atlanta Ballet‘s Wabi Sabi provides company dancers with performance opportunities during the summer.

Find out how this troupe works and what’s coming up this season in our interview with founder and Atlanta Ballet dancer, John Welker…

Wabi Sabi. Dancer: Kiara Felder. Photograph by Jonah Hooper. — *Wabi Sabi*. Dancer: Kiara Felder. Photograph by Jonah Hooper.

What first inspired Wabi Sabi?

I took inspiration from many sources, but the main one was an article about the Japanese concept of “Wabi Sabi” and how beauty can be found in the quality of imperfection. For an artist, it’s a liberating concept: to embrace one’s imperfections cannot only be beautiful, but it can be used as a way to create beauty from what makes us unique as individuals.

How are dancers selected for Wabi Sabi?

Atlanta Ballet dancers mainly select themselves for Wabi Sabi. We give them the parameters of the summer and the work we will be doing. Then, they can determine whether it’s something they want to be a part of.

Do Wabi Sabi dancers have other summer jobs as well? Do rehearsal and performance schedules have to work around this?

Yes, oftentimes the dancers do hold other jobs; and I try to work with their summer schedules. Scheduling is the hardest part of my job. Everything has to be coordinated to work efficiently. This includes the dancers, choreographers, costumes designers, musicians, and performance venues, plus the production, marketing, ticketing, and development staff.

Rehearsal of Sean Hilton’s Dormant Gods

How are costumes, props, and other non-dance tasks handled within Wabi Sabi?

Wabi Sabi was built in 2011 under the company umbrella of Atlanta Ballet. This gives us the ability to create and do things with a limited budget that we otherwise couldn’t.

We rely on the support of Atlanta Ballet’s staff for everything non-dance related such as costumes and props. That said, it is wholly a group effort. In large part, Wabi Sabi is able to do what it does because job titles are thrown out the door. You can find dancers doing production work. You can find development staff doing marketing work. Occasionally, we will run into a project where it is necessary to hire outside sources, but it is rare.

How long does it take to plan a season for Wabi Sabi?

Though we operate only in the summer, it takes a year of planning to make it happen.

What’s coming up for Wabi Sabi this summer?

[Read more…]

Atlanta Ballet Presents “Twyla Tharp’s The Princess and the Goblin”

April 13, 2016 by Rachel Hellwig

Atlanta Ballet performs "Twyla Tharp's The Princess and the Goblin." Photo by Kim Kenney. Dancers, from left to right: Peng-Yu Chen, Yoomi Kim, Alessa Rogers, Lisa Barrieau, Rachel Van Buskirk. — Atlanta Ballet performs “Twyla Tharp’s The Princess and the Goblin.” Photo by Kim Kenney. Dancers, from left to right: Peng-Yu Chen, Yoomi Kim, Alessa Rogers, Lisa Barrieau, Rachel Van Buskirk.

by Rachel Hellwig

There was once a little princess whose father was king over a great country full of mountains and valleys. – George MacDonald

A heroine’s quest to save her sisters from goblins comes to life through the choreography of the legendary Twyla Tharp as Atlanta Ballet brings The Princess and the Goblin to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre from April 15-17.

Created in 2012 for both Atlanta Ballet and Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The Princess and the Goblin takes its inspiration from George MacDonald’s 19th-century fantasy story of the same name.

“Princess Irene is the oldest daughter of a mostly absent father,” explains Alessa Rogers, who is performing the part. “When her two younger sisters and other children of the kingdom are kidnapped and taken to the underworld, Irene must find the strength within herself to rescue them. She is aided along the way by her friend Curdie and by a mysterious presence.”

No stranger to the role, Rogers performed as Princess Irene in Atlanta Ballet’s 2012 production. Originally cast as the understudy, she was put into the part right before a studio performance. “That was my first lead role ever and I will always have a soft spot for it,” says Rogers. “It’s wonderful to revisit it now after 5 years. I recognize the ways in which I’ve grown and changed as a dancer since its premiere. A lot of opportunities sprang from this ballet. It’s been a crazy, surreal ride but The Princess and the Goblin gave me so much. I will always be grateful for the experience and for Twyla for believing I could be a princess.”

John Welker will also revisit a role he performed in 2012–Princess Irene’s father, King Papa. “His self-centered ways inadvertently lead to the abduction of his daughters,” Welker explains. “He then goes on a desperate search to find them. They, however, are saved by a young man named Curdie, whom he dismissed earlier in the story as a lowlife. Through the innocence of his children and the grace of Curdie, King Papa experiences a transformation and realizes the beauty of family and life.”

Welker especially identifies with King Papa because of his real-life role as a parent. “I enjoy and relate to this character due to my experience of being a father to a frustrating and very adorable three year old,” he says. “Through my son’s eyes I get to experience being a child again, along with all the joy and wonder life holds.”

The cast of The Princess and the Goblin includes 13 students from the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education. Tharp explained to The New York Times in 2012, “My mission was to find movement [for the young performers], which they could really do that was not something they were straining to reach at […] But that would not just be running and skipping and hopping and chaos. First thing I did was to get them out of their ballet shoes and put them in street shoes. Next thing was: ‘Girls, get your hair out of the buns. Now let’s be who you are, and let’s figure out how you move.’ ”

Twyla Tharp’s The Princess and the Goblin is set to compositions by Franz Schubert arranged and orchestrated by Schubert scholar Richard Burke, as well as original music by Burke. The score will be performed live by the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JvoVpfC10E&nohtml5=False

Tickets start at $25. Purchase here or call 800-982-2787.

From Atlanta Ballet’s website:

“Run time is approximately 1 hour and 24 minutes. This program is performed without an intermission.”

Paris, Passion, And Pointe Shoes: Atlanta Ballet Presents Moulin Rouge®

February 4, 2016 by Rachel Hellwig

Atlanta Ballet in Moulin Rouge®. Photograph by Charlie McCullers. — Atlanta Ballet in *Moulin Rouge®–The Ballet*. Photograph by Charlie McCullers.

By Rachel Hellwig

A tragic love triangle, the City of Lights, and the bohemian nightlife of the late nineteenth century—Atlanta Ballet brings Jorden Morris’ Moulin Rouge® – The Ballet back to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre from February 5-13.

Created in 2009 for the 70th anniversary of Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the production has since toured internationally, been adapted into a ballet film, and was re-staged on Atlanta Ballet in 2010.

Inspired by the iconic French nightclub depicted in the art of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Moulin Rouge® blends ballet, Cancan, and tango to the music of composers such as Debussy, Offenbach, Shostakovich, Ravel, Johann Strauss Jr. and Astor Piazzolla, among others.

"At the Moulin Rouge" by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Wikimedia Commons Public domain image. — *At the Moulin Rouge* by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Wikimedia Commons public domain image.

A fantasia of history and imagination, the ballet follows the stories of Nathalie–a laundress turned cabaret dancer, Charles Zidler–the sinister proprietor of the Moulin Rouge (“The Red Mill”), Matthew–an aspiring painter, and, of course, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Atlanta Ballet veteran John Welker, now in his 21st season with the company, will portray Zidler and Toulouse-Lautrec. “What I really enjoy about these roles is that they are both based on real people,” he says. “They are not just a figment of the choreographer’s imagination. I love that, in some strange way, it makes you feel connected to that time period in Paris.”

The original Moulin Rouge circa 1914. Wikimedia Commons public domain image.

Interestingly, the historic Toulouse-Lautrec would not likely have been able to dance. After breaking his legs as a youth, the bones did not heal properly and stopped growing. As a result, he was disproportionately short and struggled to walk, even with a cane.

Nonetheless, Morris wanted to bring him to life through dance. In an interview for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, he explained, “When choreographing the dance for Toulouse, I wanted the audience to see the amazing and beautiful things going on in his mind – which is translated through dance. It would have been easy to make his choreography twisted and deformed, but then we would never see the beauty behind what was in his mind.”

John Welker and Christine Winkler as Matthew and Nathalie in Moulin Rouge®. Photograph by Charlie McCullers. — John Welker and Christine Winkler as Matthew and Nathalie in *Moulin Rouge®–The Ballet*. Photograph by Charlie McCullers.

As Nathalie, the rags-to-riches Moulin Rouge star whose life is fatefully intertwined with Matthew, Nadia Mara returns to a role she first visited in Atlanta Ballet’s 2010 production. She delights in the character’s creative and dramatic possibilities. “Nathalie goes through so many emotions and transformations during the story,” she says. “It allows me to explore and work on my acting, which I always love. I can’t wait to show the audience this beautiful ballet!”

If you would like to be in the audience of Moulin Rouge®–The Ballet, tickets starting at $25 may be purchased here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nHgU4g-Gro