Then he told us to pretend we were roosters crowing. It was beautiful when he demonstrated, but we quickly discovered that it wasn’t as easy as it looked. “Once in a Commedia rehearsal, he showed us a step where we had to walk across the floor, sticking our hips out as we moved. Wheeldon finds the perfect balance between hard work, collaboration, and humor,” she says. The process, Stix-Brunell says, is bound to be as entertaining as it is eye-opening. During Morphoses’ weeklong residency at the festival, Stix-Brunell will also rehearse a new ballet that Wheeldon is creating in collaboration with musician Martha Wainwright, set to premiere in August at SummerStage in Central Park. The company plans to perform Commedia, the central duet from Wheeldon’s Mercurial Manoeuvres and William Forsythe’s Slingerland Pas de Deux.

Stix-Brunell is on the roster for Morphoses’ third trip to the Vail International Dance Festival this July. “Although I’m keenly aware that sooner rather than later she will fly off to bigger things, this time we’re having together is precious.” “Beatriz has a great sense of humor and handles the occasional ribbing with poise and sharp wit,” he says. It might seem like a risk to take a relatively untested teenage dancer into a company like Morphoses, but Wheeldon knew that Stix-Brunell would be a good fit.

And Stix-Brunell was part of the original cast of Wheeldon’s Commedia, along with the likes of Royal Ballet principal Leanne Benjamin and freelance star Drew Jacoby. Just a few years ago, she watched New York City Ballet principal Wendy Whelan perform Wheeldon’s Polyphonia last fall, she danced in the piece with Whelan during Morphoses’ season at New York City Center. Stix-Brunell, who trains with renowned instructor Fabrice Herrault in New York, has found working with Morphoses to be an invaluable-and heady-experience. About a year ago, Christopher Wheeldon picked the 16-year-old wunderkind to dance in his elite troupe, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company. But for Beatriz Stix-Brunell, that dream came true a little early.

Every ballet student dreams of dancing new works with a world-class company.

Beatriz stix brunell