Wevers’ Whim W’him a Crowd Pleaser at On the Boards
Last weekend saw the first performance from Whim W’him, the HOTT new dance company formed in 2009 by PNB principle dancer Olivier Wevers. The show, presented by On the Boards, consisted of the world premiere of 3Seasons and was filled out with Wevers’ older work - X Stasis, created for PNB’s 2006 Choreographer’s Showcase and Fragments, originally set for Spectrum Dance Theater in 2007.
It was a great show. On the surface, we saw the confident product of a youthful, energetic artistic director and choreographer. Wevers seems to favor short, 4-5 minute snippets of dancing life rolled up into a longer thematic chorus, feminine women and flighty fun. With a foundation built on classical ballet and on the quickness of modern movement, Wevers’ branding talent is his flair for the flair - his whimsical choreography, the show’s punctuation of reds throughout, his choice of music - applied with an artist’s touch; not driven by gimmick, just a sense of playful personality.
Although X Stasis, Fragments and 3Seasons are three very different works, set by Wevers over a period of three years, the show as a whole was tied together by this thematic thread of whimsy and fun. If we hadn’t previously seen Ultimatum, shown in 2008 at Men in Dance and at the A.W.A.R.D. show last year, we might think this might be all Wevers has to offer, but it’s not. If anything, we know Wevers does not shy away from putting only men onstage together, something of which we don’t get to see enough. (Note on this: up next at On the Boards is Bruno Beltrão’s Grupa de Rua, nine men krumping and popping the rhythm of Rio de Janeiro’s streets. MMMMmmmmm.)
Under the surface though, the formation of Whim W’him fosters a mutually beneficial relationship between Wevers and some of the most skilled artists in the community, something Wevers addressed frankly in his four-part interview with Vala dancewear:
[W]hen you make pieces on different companies like that, you have to kind of set it to their style and their certain “voice”. So you have to watch what you do, and make sure it is really going to fit that company. It’s all been great and I love creating new works, and love working on these kinds of projects, but I’ve been kind of frustrated in my own artistic development, and I wanted to kind of “explore” more. You know, have more time to rehearse, have dancers that I really admire, and that are really going to push me.
The signs of this symbiosis were busting the seams of the Whim W’him show. We felt, radiating from the stage, the high energy and the sheer pleasure of being free to create at will, without limits. To be fair, most startup companies in Seattle emphasize artistic collaboration, but the difference here is that Wevers probably has his pick of the litter when it comes to stagers, lighting designers, composers, costumers and dancers - in this case several powerhouse principles from PNB and the modern dance darlings from Spectrum Dance. (And kudos to you, Jim Kent!)
Wevers has been choreographing for some time and is well known in the dance community, a fact reiterated by the burgeoning interest shown in this budding company - the weekend’s three shows were completely sold out with a waiting list to boot. Friday night’s show received a standing ovation and the after-party next store was filled with love and good cheer. It was wonderful to see this kind of a support for yet another artist venturing out on their own, albeit one with so much talent at his disposal. Surely more great stuff to come from Whim W’him, and we’ll do our best to help you get your ticket-purchasing trigger fingers ready.
