Whim W’Him presents OUT-spoken

New Works. New Name. Fan Favorites.

June 3-11, 2016
Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center
201 Mercer Street
Seattle, WA 98109

Performances:
June 3 at 8pm
June 4 at 8pm
June 10 at 8pm
June 11 at 8pm

Seattle, WA— The sixth season of Olivier Wevers’ award-winning contemporary dance company, Whim W’Him, wraps up with all new works from fan favorites and a fresh face at the Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center, June 3-11, 2016. The Montreal-based 2015 Princess Grace Choreography winner, James Gregg will present his dynamic and articulate style. We’re thrilled to welcome the return of Whim W’Him darling and the 2013 National Dance Award UK winner, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, who will create her 4^th piece on the company. And finally, a new work from Artistic Director, Olivier Wevers, who Chosen Magazine said “has become synonymous with creative ingenuity”. All three works feature new musical compositions created specifically for these contemporary works.

Although a new choreographic voice in Seattle, James Gregg has been making his mark in the international choreography arena for some time. Whim W’Him artistic director, Wevers, calls his work “physical without playing at extremes, connected without being predictable, and surprising in the way bodies are articulated.” Gregg’s piece for the company is supported by the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, which aims to fulfill the legacy of Princess Grace by supporting emerging artists with awards that allow them to continue and enhance their artistic practice. Gregg’s win marks the first time a former awardee’s dance company will present a Choreography Fellowship winner; Wevers received the choreography award in 2011. The new work has been created in partnership with Austin-based composer, musician, and dancer Jordan Moser.  It will explore the “awakening of memories from past relationships” and merge “an old west sound with classical beauty and subtle, ominous tones.”

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa is a familiar face to Seattle audiences, as Whim W’Him has presented 5 of her works in the past, both re-staged works and new creations. This work will be her fourth new creation for the company, following on Cylindrical Shadows (2011), Crave (2013), and, most recently, Les Biches (2014), which The Seattle Times termed like looking at “an alternate world through a kaleidoscope of haunting images.” The inspiration for her new work isPulp Fiction’s world of petty criminals, exploring violence with a touch of absurdity. The piece will feature music by Dylan Guttierez, a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago.

Olivier Wevers is concocting a strange and wondrous drama, a tortured story to fractured music created by Dylan Ward. This is the second time Wevers and Ward have collaborated on musical accompaniment. The score is based on a famous classical piano composition, reflecting the claustrophobic emotional terrain of the ballet’s seven characters. Via intense colors and dark, brooding scenic design, Olivier’s choreography will probe a young passion torn apart by the lovers’ own choices and obsessions.

Whim W’Him dancers include: Kyle Johnson, Jim Kent, Mia Monteabaro, Tory Peil, Thomas Phelan, Justin Reiter, and Patrick Kilbane. OUT-spoken runs for four performances over two weekends, June 3-4 and June 10-11, 2016 at the Seattle Center’s Cornish Playhouse.  Tickets start at $25 and may be purchased at BrownPaperTickets.com. Programming details subject to change.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Olivier Wevers:
Dedicated to creating works of artistic innovation and collaboration, Brussels-born Olivier founded Whim W’Him in 2009. Before establishing the company, he was a principal dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Olivier has received numerous awards, including the 2011 Princess Grace Foundation Choreography Fellowship, the City of Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award, the grand prize an unprecedented two years in a row at the annual Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival in California, and an ArtistTrust/ Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship Award. He has been recognized among Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch, and participated in the National Choreographers Initiative, as well as the New York Choreographic Institute.

Olivier has created works for companies and festivals around the world, including Pacific Northwest Ballet, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Ballet of the National Theatre Brno in the Czech Republic, Northwest Dance Project, BalletX, Spectrum Dance Theater, Cornish Dance Theater, Prix de Lausanne, Against the Grain/Men in Dance, Seattle’s Bumbershoot, and White Bird’s 4×4 Ballet Project.

James Gregg:
James was raised in Oklahoma and started dancing at the age of nine. He trained with Ballet Oklahoma, Houston Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, The Edge Performing Arts Center (LA), and Lou Conte Dance Studio. James moved to Chicago to dance with River North Chicago Dance Company in 1999. He was with RNCDC for several years before moving to Montréal, where he danced with Les Ballet Jazz de Montréal. He has performed the works of many renowned choreographers including Aszure Barton, Mauro Bigonzetti, Frank Chaves, Danny Ezralow, Harrison McEldowney, Mia Michaels, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Rodrigo Pedernieras, Crystal Pite, and Edgar Zendajas. James started choreographing as a youngster in school but really found his passion when he arrived in Chicago, where he dove into working with different dancers and companies. He has set works on River North Chicago Dance Company, Northwest Dance Project’s Pretty Creatives Competition, Les Ballet Jazz Workshop, and for Springboard Danse Project.

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa:
The Colombo-Belgian Annabelle Lopez Ochoa completed her dance education at the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp, Belgium. After a 12-year long career in various European dance companies, Annabelle decided in 2003 to focus solely on choreography.

In that same year she was hailed “rising star of the Dutch dance scene” (NRC newspaper) and only 7 years later the Temecula Performing Arts Examiner wrote: ”Ochoa is truly a masterful choreographer with an edge for what dance can and should be in this constantly changing industry”.

Annabelle is a sought-after choreographer who has created works for numerous dance companies around the world such as the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Dutch National Ballet, Djazzex, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, The Royal Ballet of Flanders, Gran Canaria Ballet, the Gothenborg Ballet, Modern Dance Theater Ankara, BalletX, Pennsylvania Ballet, Luna Negra Dance Theater, Ballet National de Marseille, Ballet Hispanico, Le Jeune Ballet du Québec, BJM-Danse Montréal, Jacoby&Pronk, Saarbrucken Ballett, Chemnitzer Ballett, Whim W’Him, Incolballet de Cali, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Compania Nacional de Danza, Scottish Ballet, The Washington Ballet, Ballet Nacional Dominicano, Ballet Austin, Atlanta Ballet, Augsburg Ballet, Ballet Nacional Dominicano, Ballet Nacional de Cuba , Grand Rapids Ballet, Ballet Moscow, House of Makers Amsterdam, West Australian Ballet, Ballet Manila, Ballet Nacional Chileno, Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, Daniil Simkin’ Intensio Project, Silicon Valley Ballet, Joffrey Ballet and Cincinnati Ballet.

In April 2012, she created her first full-length Ballet “A Streetcar Named Desire” in collaboration with theater director Nancy Meckler for the Scottish Ballet. “Streetcar” was acclaimed by both press and public, and received several awards. It had an extended tour through the UK. In May 2015, the Scottish ballet will be touring the piece in the States.

Ms Lopez Ochoa is a versatile choreographer who works regularly within the dance field but also creates for theatre, opera, musical theatre and in 2006, for the celebrated Dutch fashion designers Viktor & Rolf’s project in the Van Gogh Museum. She belongs to the Theater-Dance collective “Fantasten” with whom she created successfully 5 full-length physical theater plays, which have been performed in many theaters and festivals throughout the Netherlands.

The critically acclaimed piece “Before After” which Annabelle created for the Dutch National Ballet in 2002, and which is known as her signature piece, has been performed at the Dance Passion Festival in the Netherlands, the New York Fall for Dance Festival, the Houston Dance Salad Festival, the 2007 Orange County Fall for Dance Festival, throughout Sweden by the Gothenburg Ballet, at several galas in Spain and is currently on the repertoire of Ballet Nacional Dominicano, Whim W’Him, Ballet Hispanico, Finnish National Ballet, Dutch National Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet.

TICKET INFORMATION:
Performances June 3-4 & 10-11 at 8 PM
Tickets available at BrownPaperTickets.com
$25 Advance | $30 Day of show | $15 Student Rush
Subject to availability, tickets are also available 60 minutes prior to each performance at the Cornish Theater.

SPECIAL EVENTS
POST PERFORMANCE DISCUSSION: After each performance, join the company and guest artists to discuss the works in the lobby of the Cornish Playhouse. Free for ticket holders.

ABOUT THE COMPANY:
Whim W’Him is an award-winning Seattle-based contemporary dance company founded in 2009 by Olivier Wevers, former Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer and choreographer, that showcases all new innovative dance works in collaboration with global artists. mys.iqs.temporary.site

Publicity Contact
Catherine Bombico/ info@mys.iqs.temporary.site / mys.iqs.temporary.site/contact

Schedule and programming subject to change. For further information, please visit mys.iqs.temporary.site.

WHIM W’HIM
PO Box #70285 ● Seattle, WA 98127 ● mys.iqs.temporary.site