Whim W’him: Olivier Wevers “The Sofa”
Amber Willett and Jim Kent in Olivier Wever's "The Sofa"
Upon returning from Germany, I danced as a guest artist with Whim W'him, directed by Olivier Wevers, former Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer. The production "Crave More" included new works by Wevers, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Andrew Bartee.
I performed in "The Sofa", which was created for Grand Rapids Ballet in 2012, which Wevers was now setting on his own company.
You can read more about my time with Whim W'him here:
Behind the Scenes by Victoria Farr Brown
Seattle Times Review of Crave More
Set to a Mozart piano concerto, “The Sofa” is Wevers at his frothiest best. It’s full of little betrayals, teary breakdowns, insouciant flourishes and absent-minded reconciliations, all played out in zanily gymnastic duets (Bartee and Seefeldt have special fun with theirs). One key image is of lovers who keep joining in literally blinding embrace, as their tenderly caressing hands repeatedly flatten themselves on the faces of their paramours, making it impossible for them to see.
“The Sofa” is also a dazzling demonstration of how to create malleable space with mobile bodies, as Wevers serves up Mobius- strip patterns in dance. It’s rote by now to say the Belgium-born choreographer has a surrealist component to his imagination, but it’s true. Once again, the spirit of Magritte informs his work, as that sofa does things and goes places you don’t expect a sofa to go.
