Our History

Post:ballet was founded in 2009 by Robert Dekkers, named “25 to Watch” by DANCE Magazine, with a vision to push the ballet envelope through innovative multidisciplinary collaborations. SF Chronicle noted that Post is “a company that not only lives dangerously- it thrives on it,” and SF Arts Monthly called Post’s productions “decidedly daring and always beautifully performed. 

Integrating classically-trained dancers with artists working in animation, architecture, new music, cinematography, fashion, and visual arts, Post’s collaborations range from intensely intimate to wildly conceptual. After its inaugural performances, 7×7 Magazine named Post:ballet ‘Best New Dance’ in San Francisco. Post has since collaborated with arts organizations including SF Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, SF Girls Chorus, and The Living Earth Show.

Post:ballet is led by Robert Dekkers alongside Music Director Andy Meyerson, Resident Choreographer Vanessa Thiessen, and Creative Advisor Christian Squires. The company’s dancers were recognized by SF Chronicle for being “among the finest on the West Coast,” and Post was recently named one of “10 Contemporary Ballet Companies You Should Be Obsessed With” by Dance Spirit. Post’s collaborations, which range from feature-length films to site-specific live performances, are consistently “inventive, focused, sophisticated, and anything but risk averse” (SF Chronicle).

Throughout the pandemic, Post has continued to innovate, offering donation-based classes online and creating dance films to inspire audiences locally and abroad. Two of Post:ballet’s recent short films, Swan Lake and Playing Changes, were nominated for “Best Dance Performance” by SF Classical Voice, and Post:ballet’s Waltz of the Snowflakes short film hit YouTube in December of 2020 and has since been viewed over 300,000 times.

Artistic Highlights

Fall 2021. Post:ballet and The Living Earth Show premiere Lyra at the Taube Atrium in the SF War Memorial building. Presented by San Francisco Performances, this live music, dance, and film collaboration marked Post’s first evening-length film.

Summer 2021. The dance artists of Post:ballet embark on a 3-week long filming/camping expedition with director Robert Dekkers, cinematographer Benjamin Tarquin, choreographer Vanessa Thiessen, and costume designer Christian Squires to capture Lyra, a full-length collaboration between Post and The Living Earth Show featuring an original score by Samuel Adams. The company presents its first live event since the pandemic began at Vita Brevis Club, sharing excerpts from Lyra before the expedition began.

Spring 2021. Post:ballet premieres two short films: Swan Lake, featuring choreography by Robert Dekkers and cinematography/editing by Benjamin Tarquin, was presented by San Francisco Dance Film Festival and released onto Post:ballet’s YouTube channel; and Shaker Loops, featuring choreography by Robert Dekkers and cinematography/editing by Reneff-Olson Productions, which was commissioned by Berkeley Symphony for their 2021 digital season.

Winter 2021. Post:ballet premieres Playing Changes in collaboration with violinist Helen Kim and cinematographer/editor Benjamin Tarquin. The film featured seven short works for solo violin, including four original commissions, and was presented by San Francisco Symphony as part of their SFSymphony+ digital season.

Winter 2020. Post:ballet releases three short films: Eight Whiskus, featuring choreography by Robert Dekkers and dance artist/performer Emily Hansel, music by John Cage (played by violinist Helen Kim), and cinematography/editing by Reneff-Olson Productions; La Folia, featuring choreography by Vanessa Thiessen, music by Danny Clay, costumes by Christian Squires and Christopher Dunn, cinematography by Stephen Kimbrell, and editing by Loren Robertson; and Waltz of the Snowflakes, with choreography by Robert Dekkers, cinematography by Benjamin Tarquin, and featuring the dance artists of Post:ballet and Berkeley Ballet Theater.

Summer 2020. Post:ballet artists Christian Squires and Robert Dekkers co-choreograph, film, edit, and perform in Without, a short film commissioned by Vita Brevis Club featuring an original score by Riley D. Nicholson. The film was later screened as part of the 2021 San Francisco Dance Film Festival at Brava Theater.

Fall 2020. SF Trolley Dances commissions Post:ballet to create a new short film, A Natural History of Vacant Lots, featuring music by Christopher Cerrone performed by Music Director Andy Meyerson and filmed at the SF Museum of Craft and Design.

Spring 2020. Post:ballet releases Surface Down, a short film with The Living Earth Show and director of photography Ben Tarquin featuring excerpts from Lyra, a co-production highlighting choreographer Vanessa Thiessen and composer Samuel Adams.

Winter 2020. Berkeley Ballet Theater, the official school of Post:ballet, co-produces Rightfully Ours with San Francisco Girls Chorus. Featuring guest artists from P:B, The Living Earth Show, and Amaranth Quartet, the evening-length work featured over 40 choristers, 30 dancers, 6 musicians, 7 choreographers, and 8 composers.

Fall 2019. Post:ballet celebrates its Tenth Anniversary at P:B Jam, hosted at SOMArts and highlighting the work of the company’s diverse artists over the past decade.

Summer 2019. Post:ballet presents another excerpt of Lyra at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), and premieres a new collaborative program with singer/songwriter Star Amerasu titled Incandescent Body at Heron Arts.

Spring 2019. Post:ballet revives Lavender Country and creates a new 360-camera film “Come Out to Lavender Country,” scheduled to premiere in Fall 2019 at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival.

Fall 2018. Post:ballet’s short film collaboration with composer Riley Nicholson and film director Morgan Frasier, titled Go, premiered at the SF Dance Film Festival. The company also presented the first Sneak Peek into its 2020 evening-length collaboration, Lyra, with composer Samuel Adams, choreographer Vanessa Thiessen, and co-producers The Living Earth Show.

Summer 2018. Choreographer Vanessa Thiessen created a new duet Junction, set to an original score by Daniel Wohl created for The Living Earth Show, which premiered at the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival’s ChoreoeFest program. The work made its stage debut at the company’s P:B Jam event at SOMArts Cultural Center, featuring dance artists Raymond Ejiofor and Keon Saghari.

Fall 2017. Post:ballet’s Lavender Country collaboration comes to life at Z Space Theater, featuring Patrick Haggerty and his seven piece band, choreography by Vanessa Thiessen, costume design by Christian Squires, and lighting design by David Robertson. The company also premiered Coming Home, a short film commissioned through SF Dance Film Festival’s Co-Laboratory program with choreography by Robert Dekkers and direction by Marta Dymek.

Summer 2017. Post:ballet presented On Falling, a solo work for Cora Cliburn set to John Luther Adams’ “Drums of Winter,” at the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival’s ChoreoeFest program.

Spring 2017. At Post:ballet’s annual P:B Jam event, the company premiered Damn the Flood, featuring an original score performed live by composer Adrian Knight with musicians The Living Earth Show.

Fall 2016. For the company’s seventh annual free fall event at 111 Minna Gallery, Post premiered Warped Fare, an original collaboration featuring composer Sharmi Basu and dance artists/co-choreographers Robert Dekkers, Patrick Kilbane, and Vanessa Thiessen.

Summer 2016. Do Be, the company’s first evening-length co-production with another arts organization (The Living Earth Show), is premiered at Z Space and marked the culmination of nearly three years of collaborative development between Post and TLES. The production featured original scores by Chris Cerrone, Jacob Cooper, Nicole Lizée, Anna Meredith, and Jonathan Pfeffer; costume/scenic design by Christian Squires; lighting design by Jim French; and culinary design by Brenden Darby.

Fall 2015. At Oasis in San Francisco, Post premiered the fifth installment of the ‘Do Be’ saga, titled “Pasturing I,” featuring Jacob Cooper’s original score for the production.

Summer 2015. Six Pack, the company’s sixth annual summer season production, premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ YBCA Theater. The program of six short works featured Pitch Pause Please, a premiere collaboration featuring composer Samuel Adams and percussionist Andy Meyerson. Also highlighted on the program was Do Be: Family, the fourth installment of the company’s ‘Do Be’ collaboration with The Living Earth Show set to an original score by Nicole Lizée. The program also included the West Coast premiere of Reason does not know (originally created for Kansas City Ballet), Yours is Mine (first created on Atlanta Ballet’s Wabi Sabi), ourevolution, and Flutter.

Fall 2014. Hi-5, the company’s debut fall program, is presented at Z Space, featuring the premiere of Do Be: Tassel. The first installment of a year-long collaboration between Post and The Living Earth Show, the work features an original score by Anna Meredith and costume/scenic design by Christian Squires. Also on the program was Yours is Mine, Flutter, and Sixes and Seven. David Wiegand of SF Chronicle exclaimed “This is a company that not only lives dangerously– it thrives on it.”

Summer 2014. Five High premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ YBCA Theater, featuring ourevolution with illustrations by Enrique Quintero, animation by Yas Opisso and Stephen Goldblatt, lighting by David Roberstson, and costumes by Christian Squires and Susan Roemer. Also on the program was Mine is Yours and field the present shifts. Allan Ulrich of SF Chronicle declared: “Every dance company should be lucky enough to have a Robert Dekkers at the helm. In a mere five years, he has brought his Post:ballet to the attention of audiences looking for substantial summertime dance fare and held their interest…. The nine dancers, drawn prominently from the local ballet world, are among the finest on the West Coast.”

Fall 2013. Post premiered Redhood’s End at the WestWave Dance Festival in San Francisco. Dekkers’ first narrative work for the company, based on the fairytale of Little Red Riding Hood, “set the stage on fire in a surreal time warp” (Carla Escoda, Bachtrack).

Summer 2013. Four Plays premieres at San Francisco’s YBCA Theater. Critical Dance praises Dekkers’ world premiere, field the present shifts, “a gorgeous piece of art – stunning choreography, incredible visuals, inventive lighting and brilliant dancing” (Heather Desaulniers). The piece brought together Bay Area architects Robert Gilson and Catherine Caldwell, compsoer Matthew Pierce, costume designer Christine Darch, technical designer Ian Winters, and lighting designer David Robertson. Also on the program was Sixes and Seven, When in Doubt, and Colouring.

Fall 2012. Dekkers’ duet Interference Pattern, with original cinematography by Amir Jaffer, was featured at the 2012 Against the Grain Festival in Seattle. Dance artist Christian Squires performed Dekkers’ solo work Sixes and Seven, which won the 2012 Director’s Choice Award at sjDANCEco’s 10th Annual ChoreoProject showcase at San Jose State University. This critically-acclaimed solo was also performed by Dekkers at the United Nations Plaza in San Francisco as part of the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Artery Project.

Summer 2012. Triads premiered at the Herbst Theatre. The SF Chronicle stated that Post:ballet “argues to become a permanent fixture on the local dance scene. We need more companies like this – inventive, focused, sophisticated and anything but risk averse” (Allan Ulrich). The program featured the world premiere of When in Doubt, Dekkers’ fourth collaboration with composer Jacob Wolkenhauer.

Winter/Spring 2012. Dekkers’ fourth collaboration with composer Daniel Berkman, Mine is Yours, premiered at the San Francisco International Arts Festival. The company was also presented at the APAP Conference in New York City for the first time.

Summer 2011. Post:ballet’s sophomore program, Seconds, featured the world premiere of Colouring. The collaboration, commissioned by the San Francisco Foundation, brought visual artist Enrique Quintero, photographer Natalia Perez, composer Daniel Berkman, and the Post:ballet dancers together onstage for a unique expression of the creative process.

Spring 2011. Dekkers was honored as a “25 to Watch” artist by DANCE Magazine.

Summer 2010. Post:ballet presented its inaugural evening-length program, Concert One, which included Milieu, Dekkers’ first collaboration with composer Daniel Berkman, and Happiness of Pursuit, his first with composer Jacob Wolkenhauer. Dekkers premiered his first documentary short film, Ours, at the Frameline Festival in San Francisco’s Castro Theater as part of the HIV Story Project’s full-length film “Still Around.” Post:ballet was named ‘Best New Dance’ of San Francisco by 7×7 Magazine.

Spring 2010. Post:ballet presents 'Sneak Peek,’ its first live performance that offers audiences an intimate viewing for the premiere of Flutter and B-Sides, the first two works created for Post by Artistic Director Robert Dekkers. Later in the Spring, Post:ballet presented the germinal concept for Colouring, featuring visual artist Enrique Quintero, at Fort Mason Center.