Born in Bristol (GB). A/er studying at London’s prestigious Ballet Rambert School, he joined their company as a dancer.
Wherlock was Ballet Director at Hagen Theatre inGermany from 1991 to 1996, then spending three seasons as Director of the Luzerner Ballet before moving to Komische Opera Berlin as Artistic Director and Choreographer of Berlin Ballett.

He has been Director and Head Choreographer of Ballett Theater Basel since the 2001 / 2002 season and Artistic Director of the renowned festival «basel tanzt» from 2004 to 2009. Richard Wherlock has beenDirector and Head Choreographer of Ballett Basel since 2001 / 2002 and has created many choreographies for the company.

He has enjoyed particular success with his adaptations of great classics such as «A Swan Lake», «James or La Sylphide», «Traviata – a Ballet», «Carmen», «Giselle»,or «Eugene Onegin» and other full-length narrative ballets which he has reinterpreted using contemporary dance techniques.

He worked as choreographer with, among others, the following companies: New English ContemporaryBallet, Tanzforum Köln, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam,Finnish Dance Theatre Helsinki, BalleQ StaatstheaterBraunschweig, Romanian National Ballet, TheIcelandic Ballet, Ballet National de Nancy et deLorraine, Ballet National de Marseille, Ballet del’Opéra de Nice, aalto balleQ theater essen, Europa Danse (UNESCO), BalleQ der Deutschen Oper amRhein Düsseldorf, Singapore Dance Theatre, Balle Qder Vereinigten Bühnen Graz, Introdans in Arnheim /Holland, BalleQ des Badischen StaatstheatersKarlsruhe, Phoenix Dance Theatre Leeds and Ballet Contemporaneo del Teatro San Marin / Argentina. Wherlock also created a full-length ballet for Les Étoiles de l’Opéra National de Paris, for the Ballet of the Opéra National de Bordeaux and for the SeoulBallet Theatre.

His film and TV work includes the choreography forClaude Lelouch’s cinema production «Hasards ou Coïncidences», presented in 1998 at the VeniceBiennale and at the Montréal and Chicago festivals. In 2000, Wherlock received the Prix Italia for the award-winning dance film «Passengers», produced by the Swiss broadcasting company DRS, RM Associates and3SAT. A big film success was «One bullet le/» – alsoproduced by Swiss broadcasting company DRS – was awarded the Golden Rose of Montreux in 2003. In1999 he was nominated for the international dance award «Benois de la Danse». Richard Wherlock ’spartacular interest lies in supporting talented up-and-coming dancers. He serves on the juries of numerous international dance competitions and is president of the Migros scholarship jury.