A native of Toronto, Ethan Colangelo is a recent graduate of the Juilliard School where he received the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Choreographic Promise. Colangelo began his training at Canada’s National Ballet School and furthered his dance endeavors at Elite Danceworks prior to attending Juilliard. He has performed repertoire by Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Stijn Celis, Jose Limon, and Mark Morris, and has been in new creations by Roy Assaf, Stephan Laks, Miceala Taylor, and Jasmine ElliIs to name a few. Currently he dances for BODYTRAFFIC in Los Angeles. Colangelo presented his work at Juilliard’s Choreographic Honors Showcase in 2016, ’17, ’18, and ’19. In 2016, he was one of three selected for a choreographic residency at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance Gaga Summer Intensive and was one of 10 selected to present work at Reverb Dance Festival NYC. In 2017, Guillaume Cote, Associate Choreographer of the National Ballet of Canada, invited Colangelo to create work at Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur in Montreal, where he presented two separate pieces. Recently he has presented work at the APAP 2018 showcases and was one of nine choreographers selected internationally for the Copenhagen International Choreography Competition. Furthermore he choreographed for the Historical Performance division at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, collaborated on a piece at Baryshnikov Arts Center as part of the Merce Cunningham Centennial, and choreographed for Juilliard’s 2019 Senior Production Concert. Colangelo is looking forward to a new creation with Whim W’Him this summer and to participating as an emerging choreographer in Springboard Danse Montreal 2020.

Jakevis Thomason is from Greenville, SC and started his training at Dianne’s School of Dance. He decided he wanted to keep pursuing his passion for dance during high school and discover more than just the competitive dance industry, eventually leading him to being a part of the USC Glorya Kaufman Class of 2020. Here he learned from faculty and other students the complexities that the art form of dance offered and expanded his knowledge about artistic movement. Thomason enjoys exploring his teaching skills and choreographic voice in combination with the hybrid movement and vocabulary that USC Kaufman has introduced to him and sees himself as bringing this movement knowledge to the commercial, concert, Broadway and studio scenes of dance. He looks forward to performing and teaching as long as he can in his career in hopes of one day being able to choreograph and creative director for musical artists on tour, Broadway shows, and dance companies across the world.

From ballet training in his native Belgium, Olivier learned the beauty, passion and discipline of the art. On coming to North America at age 19, he discovered the exhilaration of many new dance forms. As a principal dancer, first with Royal Winnipeg Ballet and later, for most of his dancing career, with Pacific Northwest Ballet, he acquired his strong conviction that dancers are the heart and soul of a company. As such they, and artists in general, must live at the very center of the process, their dignity, psychological and creative growth and safety deemed just as essential as their technical accomplishments. 

During his years of performing in classical and contemporary works by choreographers from around the world, Olivier also discovered the thrill of making dances and how imaginative story-telling and movement exploration connect to caring about individuality and physicality. Creating dances fed his perennial curiosity. It became “my way to express myself and, during the process, to be able to learn more about the human condition, start dialogues, touch people and share ideas, reflecting on our times and our humanity.”

Click here for more

Devan is a producer, composer, and musician based in Los Angeles, California. His musical influence originated from his family in Houston, Texas, where he was surrounded with sounds of Gospel, R&B, and Soul. Due to his family’s influence, Devan began playing drums at a young age. Having the opportunity to play at venues such as church services, school performances, and jazz festivals, his musicianship developed as he grew older. As he progressed in his musical journey, Devan attended the University of Southern California where he studied under Patrice Rushen, Ndugu Chancler, and Will Kennedy. His exposure to the music industry allowed to perform and collaborate with artists such as Bran Movay, Brandon Banks, and Ayoni. Throughout all of his music, he hopes to impact all who hear it and encourage people to embrace their creativity.

Michael’s critically acclaimed lighting and scenery has been seen in venues all over the USA, Europe, and Asia, ranging from opera houses to amphitheaters to circus tents to hay barns. The 3-time New York Dance and Performance Award winner has designed lighting and scenery for many dance companies, in the USA, Australia, Finland, Sweden, Cuba. He designed lighting and video for the 2015 Presidential Scholars Awards, at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Michael has also been Senior Scenic Designer on two Comedy Central Celebrity Roasts, as well as the 2015 Lincoln Awards at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall for Uplight, Inc, based in NYC. Some of his performance photography has been published in Liz Lerman’s book “Hiking the Horizontal”, as well on the websites and marketing materials for Bebe Miller Company and Rachel Tess Dance.

• MICHAEL ARELLANO
• LIANE AUNG
• JANE CRACOVANER
• NELL JOSEPHINE
• ANDREW MCSHEA
• KARL WATSON

Exploring, intimately and in wider perspective, the creative process of Whim W’Him and our many collaborators—in the studio, behind the scenes and onstage.