Olivier Wevers Co-Curates a Dance-Heavy 12 Minutes Max

12 Minutes Max, On the Boards' semi-monthly showcase of local performance talent, kicked off the second edition of its season last night with a program co-curated by Olivier Wevers (it plays again tonight at 7 p.m.; tickets $8). While there was plenty of great (and some not-so-great) work on display, overall the night felt like the latest installment of the rolling launch of Wever's anticipated new company, Whim W'Him, whose debut is at OtB this January.

Keely Isaak Meehan in Manifold Motion's "Woolgatherer" in May 2009. Photo by Divide.

A PNB principal and a choreographer noted for his puckish, whimsical style, Wevers has had everyone remotely interested in dance talking about him and the incredibly talented group of dancers he's poached from around the region, even if no one seems to know how to pronounce his company's name.

Whatever the case, he's put together a dance-heavy program that highlights some extremely talented movement artists from Seattle, with only one non-movement piece in the line-up of seven.

Nicole Sasala of the Asterisk Project was the comic highlight of the evening with Front Porch. Starting out rocking in a rocking chair and pensively playing with a harmonica, Sasala launched into light and downright charming movement based around the gimmick that she had to continue breathing through the harmonica throughout the piece, and she couldn't touch it with her hands.

I have to admit, I'm a bit of a sucker for devices like this, when choreographers find ways to communicate the body's internal processes. The tone and quality of the harmonica's sound as she breathes through it turns the dancer's entire respiratory system into a sonic palette, and the idea offered plenty of comic gold, as Sasala, occasionally mugging, rolled around the floor to try to reposition the instrument in her mouth.

Keely Isaak Meehan, the artistic director of Manifold Motion, blew my mind earlier this year with Woolgatherer, a stunning dance/multimedia presentation featuring wadges of distressed yarn. Her piece, Tulipomania, is a collaboration with local poet Linden Ontjes, who presents a spoken word text centered on tulips that explores sex, relationships, and gardening, amongst other topics. While Ontjes reads, Meehan, wearing a flouncing red skirt, interprets, fluidly moving through a series of visual references to flowers blossoming which quickly transform into expressions of tension, outrage, and occasionally aggression.

Meehan's an innovative dancer and choreographer, and along with Sasala, she'll be presenting new work as part of Manifold Motion's Miscellanea II Nov. 20-22 at the Canoe Social Club (tickets $10-$30).

Of the other most notable pieces, dancers Kate Wallich and Markeith Wiley demonstrate some stunning ability with Hiatus, and Louis Gervais, a former member of the Compagnie Marie Chouinard, did a brilliant dance-theatre performance re-interpreting the same story of a stolen bag through six characters.