perpetual cipher

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, and impresario of Baroque music. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, Vivaldi ranks amongst the greatest Baroque composers and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe. He pioneered many developments in orchestration, violin technique, and programmatic music. He consolidated the emerging concerto form into a widely accepted and followed idiom.

Olivier Wevers (he/him/his) is the Founder and Artistic Director of Whim W’Him, Seattle’s acclaimed contemporary dance company. A native of Belgium, Wevers trained in classical ballet before immigrating to North America at age 19, where he gained exposure to a wide range of dance forms, deepening and expanding his artistic perspective.

Wevers built his performing career as a principal dancer, beginning with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet and spending most of it with Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. Those years onstage — interpreting classical and contemporary works by choreographers from around the world — solidified his belief that dancers are the heart and soul of any company, and that their dignity, creative growth, and psychological safety are as essential as technical excellence.

Alongside his performing career, Wevers developed a passion for choreography, drawn to how movement exploration and imaginative storytelling illuminate the human condition. He has created works for more than a dozen companies internationally, including the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Ballet X, Grand Rapids Ballet, and the New York Choreographic Institute, among many others.

In 2009, Wevers founded Whim W’Him as an artist-centered company where kindness, empathy, and collaboration are foundational values. The company is known for its annual Choreographic Shindig — in which dancers themselves select the choreographers — its commitment to new works, equitable pay, and its dedication to amplifying emerging voices in contemporary dance.

Wevers’s honors include the Princess Grace Choreographic Fellowship Award (2011), the City of Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award (2012), and recognition as one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch.”

Randall G. Chiarelli (1949-2024) devoted his career to lighting for dance, much of it at Pacific Northwest Ballet, and also for American Ballet Theatre, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Houston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, among others. His many collaborators included choreographers Donald Byrd, Mark Dendy, Ronald Hynd, Kent Stowell, Susan Stroman, and Christopher Wheeldon. Chiarelli graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in painting and sculpture.