Tag: olivier wevers

<em>Approaching ecstasy</em> Pours Cavafy’s Poetry into Liquid Bones in Suits
Arts & Entertainment, Dance, Music

Approaching ecstasy Pours Cavafy’s Poetry into Liquid Bones in Suits

There’s no question that Cavafy is a major poet, but his reputation had to wait until society caught up to him. Though he worked as a nondescript ministry clerk for years, Cavafy made of his poetry a treasure house of the erotic, sensual, visceral–every fleeting thing that shot through the body, he trapped not in amber but in ink, refusing (as Auden later wrote of him) “to pretend that his memories of moments of sensual pleasure are unhappy or spoiled by feelings of guilt.” Continue reading Approaching ecstasy Pours Cavafy’s Poetry into Liquid Bones in Suits

For Whim W’Him’s Olivier Wevers, A New Dance is Life or Death
Arts & Entertainment, Dance

For Whim W’Him’s Olivier Wevers, A New Dance is Life or Death

No one needs to tell choreographer Olivier Wevers that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. On the same bill with his death penalty dance, thrOwn, this weekend at the Intiman, are two lighter works: la langue de l’amour, a “very naughty” solo for Chalnessa Eames; and Flower Festival, with August Bournonville’s flirtatious, teasing pas de deux, Flower Festival in Genzano, re-imagined for two men who begin the dance in suits, but then there arises a “jousting” feeling, says Wevers, promising very “kinetic” movement. Continue reading For Whim W’Him’s Olivier Wevers, A New Dance is Life or Death

Olivier Wevers & Whim W’Him: Dances to a Different Drummer
Arts & Entertainment, Dance

Olivier Wevers & Whim W’Him: Dances to a Different Drummer

Speaking to an audience after a show, Wevers made a point of emphasizing that he avoids using ballet terms with his dancers, because he’s not choreographing ballet. Puckishly, he provided samples of the new nomenclature: “flying squirrel” or “the dolphin.” But there’s still a depth and boldness in how Wevers tries to speak directly to an audience–not just dance fans–about concerns “extracurricular,” over-consumption, addiction, discrimination. Continue reading Olivier Wevers & Whim W’Him: Dances to a Different Drummer

PNB’s Season Encore a Momentous Farewell to Eight Dancers
Arts & Entertainment, Dance

PNB’s Season Encore a Momentous Farewell to Eight Dancers

Five dances into Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Season Encore last Sunday night, I got sick to my stomach. It suddenly became viscerally apparent to me just how much we are losing with the departure of eight PNB dancers: Chalnessa Eames, Barry Kerollis, Ariana Lallone, Stacy Lowenberg, Stanko Milov, Josh Spell, Jeffrey Stanton, and Olivier Wevers.

“The end of an era,” said the couple next to me. Continue reading PNB’s Season Encore a Momentous Farewell to Eight Dancers

L’Edition Française Triples the Burlesque Heat at the Triple Door [Photo Gallery]
Arts & Entertainment, Dance, Music, Theatre

L’Edition Française Triples the Burlesque Heat at the Triple Door [Photo Gallery]

L’Edition Française is back at the Triple Door this weekend, Thursday May 26 through Saturday May 28. They say they’ve added some new things, so even if you caught the “old” show, you might want to pop in again. Honestly, if you saw the old show, you wanted to pop in again anyway. This burlesque show is eye-popping for its artistry and production value, besides the usual reasons. Continue reading L’Edition Française Triples the Burlesque Heat at the Triple Door [Photo Gallery]

Balanchine’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’: PNB’s Serial Seducer (Review)
Arts & Entertainment, Dance

Balanchine’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’: PNB’s Serial Seducer (Review)

It’s a different Dream every night at Pacific Northwest Ballet’s production of the Balanchine work–the casting options must be driving balletomanes wild. Midsummer Night’s Dream has just one more weekend ahead of it at McCaw Hall and then, like so many dreams, it’ll be gone.

With eight dancers leaving PNB at the end of this season, the stakes are high. So are the leaps. Of course you have to see Olivier Wevers and Kaori Nakamura in the Divertissement–but then there’s Carla Körbes and Jeffrey Stanton, too! Continue reading Balanchine’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’: PNB’s Serial Seducer (Review)