“Ashley Wheater — who trained at the Royal Ballet, worked with choreographer Frederick Ashton, was mentored by Rudolf Nureyev, danced with the Joffrey Ballet and has spent the past 18 years with the San Francisco Ballet as a dancer, ballet master and assistant to artistic director Helgi Tomasson — was formally named the new artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet. He is the immediate successor to the company’s two founders: Robert Joffrey, who died in 1988, and Gerald Arpino, now 84, who was named artistic director emeritus in July.”