Whim W’Him presents the Inaugural Choreographic Shindig

Three New Creations. Dancer-Curated Program.

September 11-19, 2015
Erickson Theater Off Broadway
1524 Harvard Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122

Performances:
September 11-13 at 8pm
September 16-19 at 8pm

Seattle, WA—Olivier Wevers’ award-winning contemporary dance company, Whim W’Him, returns to the Erickson Theater Off Broadway for the inaugural Choreographic Shindig. This innovative program supports emerging choreographic talent while simultaneously empowering the Whim W’Him dancers by placing them at the helm of the curatorial process. The first crop of dancer-selected choreographers includes three award-winning artists hailing from Texas, San Francisco, and Switzerland: Joshua Peugh, founder and Artistic Director of Dark Circles Contemporary Dance; Maurya Kerr, founder of tinypistol and winner of the 2011 Hubbard Street National Choreographic Competition; and Ihsan Rustem, the winner of Sadler’s Wells Global Dance Contest in 2012.

All three choreographers are new to Whim W’Him and were selected via a competitive application process. In July 2014, Whim W’Him posted an international call for choreographers to apply to the WWCS. The company received 95 applications from all over the world and from choreographers ranging in experience and diversity. The dancers selected Kerr, Peugh, and Rustem to join them in the studio for four-week residencies during the summer of 2015.

San Francisco dance critic, Rachel Howard, terms Maurya Kerr a “promising proponent of liquid-jointed postmodern ballet that marries virtuosic movement with an unfussy toughness.” Formerly a star dancer with Alonso King’s LINES Ballet, Kerr often works with text or poetry as a cornerstone of her movement process. She describes her new work for six Whim W’Him dancers as “episodic; a series of solos, duets, and scenes based on my imaginings of what a specific audience member might need or want to witness. A panacea, a confrontation, a reminder, proof of worth, the erasure of regret…”

One of Dance Magazine’s 2015 “25 to Watch,” Joshua Peugh is making his mark on both the Dallas dance scene and on the national stage. Invested in creating “a new fantasy” that is authentic, interesting, and human, Peugh will work with the Whim W’Him dancers’ “mannerisms and … quirks [to] build those in to the dance.” This new work will mark both Peugh’s first encounter with the Northwest and the Northwest’s first encounter with Peugh.

The Northwest Dance Project’s first Resident Choreographer, Ihsan Rustem, is a familiar face in the Pacific Northwest, but his new work for Whim W’Him will be his first in Seattle. His piece for the company will begin “by allowing the dancers to experience [his] sense of movement vocabulary through workshops and teaching phrases.” Starting with “small segments…as a way in for the dancers to feel where I’m coming from,” his piece will develop from “initial, very intimate stages” into a group work that is “inspired by the creativity in the creative process itself.”

Whim W’Him dancers include: Kyle Johnson, Jim Kent, Mia Monteabaro, Tory Peil, Thomas Phelan, Justin Reiter, and Lara Seefeldt. The Choreographic Shindig runs for seven performances, September 11-19, 2015 at the Erickson Theater Off Broadway. Tickets start at $25 and may be purchased at BrownPaperTickets.com.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Maurya Kerr
Maurya Kerr founded tinypistol after a twelve-year career with Alonzo King LINES Ballet. tinypistol has been honored by a 2011 Hubbard Street National Choreographic Competition award, a 2012 CHIME grant, and a University of Minnesota 2014/15 Cowles Visiting Artist grant. Her project beast (2014) was funded by grants from the Rainin Opportunity Fund at ODC Theater, the Zellerbach Family Foundation and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Lighting Artists in Dance, Theatre Bay Area CA$H, and the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. Maurya’s work has been commissioned and presented by (selected) Ballet Nouveau Colorado, the Aspen Fringe Festival, WestWave Dance Festival, and the Black Choreographers Festival. Maurya is on faculty with the LINES Ballet educational programs and conducts residencies nationally as a visiting guest artist with (selected) BODYTRAFFIC, Hollins University, University of Minnesota, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and The School at Jacob’s Pillow. She is grateful to be part of Whim W’Him’s inaugural Choreographic Shindig.

Joshua Peugh
Joshua L. Peugh is the Founder and Artistic Director of Dark Circles Contemporary Dance. After graduating from Southern Methodist University, Joshua moved to South Korea to join Universal Ballet Company. Since then, he has created work for festivals in Asia, Europe, and North America winning awards for his choreography in Korea, Japan, Canada, and the USA. He has been chosen as one of Dance Magazine’s 2015 “25 to Watch,” and was recently named “an important discovery” by The New York Times. Joshua has been commissioned to create for BODYTRAFFIC, BalletX, Company E, and Whim W’Him among others.

Ihsan Rustem
Choreographer Ihsan Rustem was born in London, where he trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. He began his professional career in 2000, at the age of 17, joining Matthew Bourne’s Adventures in Motion Pictures, followed by engagements with Germany’s BallettTheater Munich and Introdans, in The Netherlands. Since 2007, Ihsan has been based in Switzerland, as a founding member of both the Berne Ballet and the Tanz Luzerner Theater.

During this period, Rustem had works created on him by Wayne McGregor, Hofesh Shechter, Alexander Ekman, Matthew Bourne, Stijn Celis, Patrick Delcroix, Cayetano Soto, Guilherme Bothello, Karole Armitage and worked with choreographers Mats Ek, Jiri Kylián, Paul Lightfoot / Sol Leon, Hans van Manen and William Forsythe, amongst others.

In 2010 Sarah Slipper invited Ihsan to Portland, Oregon USA, where he created ‘State of Matter’ for the Northwest Dance Project; a piece which went on to win both the 2012 Sadler’s Wells Global Dance Contest and the Audience Choice Award at the 25th International Competition for Choreographers Hannover. In 2015, after three creations for the company, Slipper invited Ihsan to become the first Resident Choreographer for NWDP; a position he will hold through to 2018. Rustem was also the 2014 recipient of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s International Commissioning Project, and created ‘Long Story Short’ for HS2.

To date, Ihsan has created works for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago2, Northwest Dance Project, Istanbul State Ballet MDT (Turkey), Tanz Luzerner Theater (CH), Würzburg Ballett (DE), National Youth Dance Company (UK), Aksanat Istanbul, DSC Company Faenza (IT), BYU Contemporary Dance Theater (USA), BYU Theatre Ballet (USA), Interdans (BE), Palucca Schule Dresden (DE), ArtEz Dansacademie Arnhem (Highschool for the Arts Arnhem, NL), Arnhem Mode Biennale (NL), Dance Art Studio Luzern (CH) and the choreographic workshops of BallettTheater Munich (DE), Introdans (NL), Dance Made-in Bern (Bern Ballet, CH) and Dancemakers Series: Tanz Luzerner Theater (CH).

TICKET INFORMATION:
Performances September 11-3 at 8pm | September 16-19 at 8 PM
Tickets available at BrownPaperTickets.com
$25 Advance | $30 Door | $50 VIP | $15 Student Rush
Season Subscriptions and reserved seating are also available.

Subject to availability, tickets are also available 60 minutes prior to each performance at the Erickson Theater.

SPECIAL EVENTS

MASTER CLASS SERIES: In partnership with Velocity Dance Center, Whim W’Him will host a Master Class Series exploring the movement of the three choreographers presenting new works in the Choreographic Shindig. The choreographers will participate in the master classes to personally instruct students in their movement and approach to choreography. The series takes place at Velocity Dance Center on Saturday, September 5 from 2-4 PM.

POST PERFORMANCE DISCUSSION: After each performance, join the company and guest artists to discuss the works in the lobby of the Erickson Playhouse. Free for ticketholders.

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 innovative dance in collaboration with global artists. www.whimwhim.org

Publicity Contact
Catherine Bombico/ bombico@whimwhim.org / whimwhim.org/contact

Schedule and programming subject to change. For further information, please visit whimwhim.org.

WHIM W’HIM

PO Box #70285 ● Seattle, WA 98127 ● whimwhim.org

Publicity Contact

Catherine Bombico
bombico@whimwhim.org

Schedule and programming subject to change.