PAST CREATIONS

A sofa is a major piece of furniture which most of us own. So much happens upon or around it. We sit on it, move it, fight and make up on it, make love and veg out in it. It brings us together and keeps us apart, a witness to what happens in our private lives. The sofa bears the weight of our relationships. It grounds us. Heavy, literally and figuratively, carried about by a sort of Greek chorus, the sofa becomes an eleventh dancer.

“The Sofa in all its life, humor, shadows and passion is like a small window into Olivier’s life.”
Patricia Barker, Artistic Director, Grand Rapids Ballet Company

“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.

Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times

The tone is playful, the choreography effervescent as champagne, especially when the corps pairs off in an extended canon of partnering. The fanfare is contagious and the sofa is at last hoisted up on ropes as if in homage to Fragonard’s painting “The Swing.” What makes the work resonate is its quieter middle section, where the characters grapple with their own selfishness.

Christin Call, Seattle Dances

The Sofa… has an unusual guest artist: a beautiful purple sofa that gets carted around, turned over, hidden underneath, and even strung up.

 Michael von Baker, The Sunbreak

The Sofa

Whim W’Him Premiere

January 18, 2013
Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center

World Premiere

April 6, 2012
Grand Rapids Ballet

Choreography

Olivier Wevers

Music

W. A. Mozart

Costumes

Melissa Leitch and Clare Gadeski in collaboration with Olivier Wevers

Lighting

Michael Mazzola