Choreographer Olivier Wevers has always been open about his collaborative process, especially when it comes to working with the members of his contemporary dance company Whim W’Him. From allowing them to help choose the artists they want to work with in the annual Choreographic Shindig to asking for input and feedback during rehearsals, Wevers draws on his decades of experience as a professional dancer for companies including the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet. For Whim W’Him’s forthcoming show, Winter ’25, which runs Jan. 17-25, Wevers’ cooperative efforts once again include the music. For his world premiere of Unconditional, he worked with composer and longtime collaborator Philip Daniel on a charged soundscape inspired by the rhythms of water. In addition to Wevers’ creation, Winter ’25 will feature new pieces from Chicago-based Robyn Mineko Williams and Tla’amin First Nation member Cameron Fraser-Monroe. 

The three choreographers have different styles, but each of their works contains thematic threads that pull into one another. Subjects like community, relationship, individuality, and our links to those who came before us — and those who will come after us — run from piece to piece, tapping into the fact that we live in divisive times. But not all hope is lost — through their work, these three choreographers emphasize the importance of human connection and the power of understanding one another in our humanness as a means of healing.

“I used to make a lot of political statements with my pieces,” says Wevers, “but it started to feel like an echo chamber. I’m not trying to fuel that energy of division. I want my work to bring people together, and I think to do that we have to acknowledge that as humans, we all share darkness and pain and suffering and we shouldn’t put that aside. It’s part of our experience, and as I tell my dancers often, we wouldn’t see the stars if we didn’t go through the darkness.”

Whim W’Him company dancers rehearsing Wevers’ newest piece, Unconditional, for Winter ’25.

Photo by Jim Coleman

Whim W’Him founder and artistic director Olivier Wevers works with the company at the Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Center on Queen Anne.

Photo by Jim Coleman

For Unconditional, Wevers worked with Daniel to create a forceful, rhythmic soundtrack that has a bit of edge — much like his current choreography. During a rehearsal at the beginning of January, Wevers directed six sock-clad company members through the piece, encouraging them to “find your creature,” as they worked on a section in which the dancers move around in a horde on the floor, slithering, crouching, and kicking; coming together and pulling apart; leading each other, then crawling up bodies, animal-like and desperate. From there, a duet between dancers Aliya Janov and Daeyana Moss turns tender, the two seeming to explore the need for partnership through their energetic pairing. 

According to Wevers, Jeff Foster’s poem Forget unconditional love provides an additional layer of inspiration for his piece. It contains the lines: “Forget unconditional love. Forget loving perfectly. Forget having a permanently open heart. You can’t do it. It’s an impossible goal that, paradoxically, makes you violent inside.”  This violence is seen in the choreography, but so is a softness, an acquiescence to human connection and empathy. “That’s what the work is about,” Wever says. “Let’s not be perfect, let’s just be human.”

Fraser-Monroe’s piece, SCRAP, is set to the song “Suspend” by Diné jazz trumpet artist Delbert Anderson and combines contemporary choreography with elements of traditional hoop and grass dances. “I heard the Delbert Anderson Trio, and I immediately knew I wanted to choreograph to their music,” says Fraser-Monroe. The Whim W’Him commission is his first from a U.S. company. “I was waiting for the right company that could match the energy and collaborative spirit of jazz.” 

“I met Cameron a couple of years ago and wanted the opportunity to work with him,” says Wevers. “The work he’s creating elevates the stories and culture of Indigenous artists and bridges the work we do as contemporary dancers with elements from his dance heritage.” Aside from Anderson’s music, Fraser-Monroe is working with Navajo costume designer Asa Benally to outfit the company. His choreography is full of sharp shapes and jazzy  energy, underpinned by movement that nods to hip-hop, break dancing, ballet, and traditional Indigenous dance. It’s vigorous and cohesive, lively and fun. The Whim W’Him dancers take to the creation deftly, adding their individual sensibilities to bring the vision alive. 

The final work in the trio, Ito, is from Mineko Williams, another choreographer Wevers has long had on his commission wish-list. “She is finally here, creating a work for us,” he says. “She’s done a couple of pieces for PNB, but her strength really is making work for smaller companies. The piece is very feminine, very touching, and the smaller stage allows you to see more intimate moments.” Set to a new composition by Nate Kinsella, Mineko Williams’ premiere completes the thematic braid of Winter ’25, diving into the threads that bring people together in relationships and, according to Wevers, “the traces that we leave behind when we are no longer present in someone’s life.”

Winter ’25 runs Jan. 17-25 at Cornish Playhouse, with one night, Jan. 23, at Vashon Centre for the Arts. Tickets here.