Christopher Wheeldons "After the Rain"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VibqEWACdRo

                This beautiful ballet piece Choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, to “After the Rain” is danced by Damien Smith and Yuan Yuan Tan. However, it is often danced by various other professionals. In this specific video the two professional ballet dancers are performing at the “Fire Island Dance Festival” in 2010. The Festival is on the Great South Bay in Fire Island. This particular festival features many different professional dancers in order to raise money for people who need financial aid for health reasons, like treatments and other things like that. The Fire Island Dance Festival started in 1995 and continues to grow in attendance, performance, and income every year.

                Christopher Wheeldon trained at The Royal Ballet and is now a very well-known choreographer in the ballet world. He created this piece for the NYCB (New York City Ballet) to be performed at a celebration to honor the founder of the company George Balanchine. “After the Rain,” is one of Christopher Wheeldon’s most well known and loved pieces. In 2011 Wheeldon also helped choreograph “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” More recently; in 2014 he helped choreograph “The Winter’s Tale.”

                Damien Smith the male performer in this piece is a principal in the San Francisco Ballet. Damien Smith is originally from New South Wales, Australia; and joined the San Francisco Ballet company in the year of 1996. Damien worked his way up and became a soloist in 1998, and in 2001 he was promoted to a principal. A dance Principal is the highest rank in the dance realm and a huge honor. Damien Smith has been big parts of major ballet productions like “The Nutcracker,” “Giselle,” “Swan Lake,” and even “The Little Mermaid,” along with many others.

                Yuan Yuan Tan was born in Shanghai, China and is 38 years old she is also a Principal at the San Francisco Ballet Company. Yuan Yuan Tan joined the company in 1995 as a soloist and was promoted to Principle a short two years later in 1997. Just l like Damien she has been featured in many well-known ballet productions. For example: She was the sugar plum fairy and the queen of snow in “The Nutcracker,” She was Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet,” and appeared and played the lead in many others like “sleeping Beauty.”  Yuan Yuan Tan is often a guest artist at many festivals like she was with Damien Smith for the “Fire Island Dance Festival.”
https://www.sfballet.org/company/dancers/principals