BLOG
the language of bodies – OUT-spoken opens
Three radically divergent pieces. Some surprising common threads. A Disagreeable Tale of Duplicity CHOREOGRAPHY: Olivier Wevers MUSIC: Sergei Prokofiev | SOUND DESIGN: Dylan Ward COSTUMES: Ronalee Wear | WIG: Shelby Adele Rogers | HORN FABRICATOR: ANDOR STUDIO “Art can be healing for [...]
connecting – choreographer James Gregg
When you ask James Gregg where he’s based these days, Montreal or Los Angeles, he says, “That’s a good question.” He pauses before deciding, “LA I guess,” though he still has a base up north [...]
shaping – Annabelle Lopez Ochoa in the studio
One of the very best things about writing this blog is getting to observe the particular personal style of each choreographer in the studio. Whether she is explaining a concept verbally or demonstrating or “just” [...]
springtime – what’s whimming?
Whim W’Him is humming behind the scenes. The spring’s most publicly visible innovation is the launch of this new website. Artistic director Olivier Wevers, and web designer Mariano Lozano put in untold hours (Mariano’s all [...]
first ideas – Olivier’s newest piece
Whim W'Him artistic director Olivier Wevers is concocting a strange and wondrous drama, a tortured story to fractured music. In its convoluted, near-mythic relationships and hallucinatory atmosphere, A Disagreeable Tale of Duplicity forcefully recalls (for me, [...]
Whim W’Him auditioning – 2016
The 2016 Whim W’Him auditions were held in New York City at the Alvin Ailey studio on Feb 18 and in Seattle on Feb 27 at Pacific Northwest Ballet's Francia Russell Center in Bellevue. Says [...]
IN-spired reviews
What's always refreshing about reviews is how much difference of opinion there is, even when all the critics are positive about a show. Multiplicity of response is especially noticeable, perhaps, for the works of a [...]
IN-spired Q&A (cont.) – but what does it mean???
Is there a story? Are there characters? What is communicated? Curiosity and a palpable tension fill the air when some form of the question "What was that about?" is asked at Whim W'Him after-show discussions. On [...]
IN-spired Q & A
After each of Whim W'Him's first two In-spired shows last weekend, Q&A sessions started interesting conversations—about socks, sets, stories, and the sources of individual inspiration—informative for audience and artists alike. First up on the [...]
collaborating – Two Star Symphony
You could call Two Star Symphony a “pickup band,” less because it’s not a full-time ensemble—it is, in fact, long-lived and stable—than because its members seem capable of turning their hand to any sort [...]
About the writer
Victoria Farr Brown is a former historian, a writer, now mostly of fiction, and a long-time lover of dance. She has written about Whim W’Him from its first steps in 2009.