Lyra
Co-produced by Post:Ballet and The Living Earth Show
Cora Cliburn and Landes Dixon in Vanessa Thiessen’s Lyra, photo by Alexander Reneff-Olson
Post:Ballet’s newest evening-length co-production with The Living Earth Show featuring composer Samuel Adams and choreographer Vanessa Thiessen, Lyra explores the story of Eurydice and Orpheus in a work focused on connecting artists and audiences through our shared human experiences of love, loss, and learning to let go.
A concert dance, contemporary classical music, visual design, and fashion performance experience, Lyra uses classical mythology as a jumping point for an introspective exploration of the modern day human condition.
Lyra composer Samuel Adams is working with Meyer Sound to integrate their newest immersive audio system, SpaceMap, into the production, which will premiere July 17-18, 2020 at the Forum at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Click below to watch excerpts from Post:Ballet’s 2016 co-production with The Living Earth Show, Do Be, and stay tuned for more updates and events leading up to our premiere of Lyra.
The Living Earth Show
CO-PRODUCERS
Called “outstanding” by the San Francisco Chronicle, “transcendent” by the Charleston City Paper, and “a fully distorted perpetual motion of awesome” by I Care If You Listen, The Living Earth Show (guitarist Travis Andrews and percussionist Andy Meyerson) is a megaphone and canvas for some of the world’s most progressive artists. One of the premiere contemporary chamber arts ensembles in the United States, The Living Earth Show received the grand prize in the SAVVY Chamber Arts Competition and runner-up in the open division of the M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, has commissioned and premiered over 60 new works by some of the most vital composers in the world, released two critically acclaimed albums, and has performed, lectured, and given masterclasses across the country.
Samuel Adams
COMPOSER
Samuel Adams (b. 1985, San Francisco, CA) is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. His work has been hailed as “mesmerizing” and “music of a composer with a personal voice and keen imagination” by The New York Times and “wondrously alluring” by the San Francisco Chronicle. Adams is currently a Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure with the CSO, Adams will create new works for the orchestra and co-curate the CSO’s critically-acclaimed MusicNOW series with fellow Composer-in-Residence Elizabeth Ogonek. Adams has received commissions from Carnegie Hall, San Francisco Symphony, New World Symphony, and St. Lawrence String Quartet and has collaborated with many of today's leading voices in contemporary music, including Spektral Quartet, The Living Earth Show, pianist Sarah Cahill and conductor David Robertson. Recent highlights include Quartet Movement for the Spektral Quartet and the world premiere of Light Readings by the Northwestern Bienen School of Music Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble and Members of the Chicago Symphony. In the spring of 2018, the CSO will feature his many words of love on their tour of the East Coast. Adams grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area where he participated in the improvised music community from a young age. He attended Stanford University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in composition and electroacoustic music while performing contrabass in the Bay Area. He received a master's degree in composition from The Yale School of Music.
Vanessa Thiessen
CHOREOGRAPHER
Robert Dekkers
DIRECTOR
Vanessa Thiessen is Resident Choreographer for Post:Ballet, where she has created works including Junction and Lavender Country, which was recently nominated for Best Dance Performance by SF Classical Voice. Together with Robert Dekkers, she has co-choreographed works for Grand Rapids Ballet and Post:Ballet. She's assisted KT Nelson in the creation of works for Sacramento Ballet, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, RAWdance, Owen/Cox Dance Group, LEVYdance, and Opera Parallèle. She danced with ODC Dance, Smuin Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Post:Ballet, and Amy Seiwert’s Imagery. Vanessa resides in Portland, Oregon, and teaches at Reed College, Northwest Dance Project, BodyVox, and Oregon Performing Arts School.
Named “25 To Watch” by DANCE Magazine, Robert Dekkers is founder and artistic director of Post:Ballet. Collaborating with eclectic artists to create choreography that is “anything but risk averse” (SF Chronicle), Robert’s work has been presented at SF International Arts Festival, Tanzsommer Festival (Vienna), Ballet Builders Showcase (NYC), Against the Grain (Seattle), and WestWave Dance Festival (SF). Recent commissions include Kansas City Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, sjDANCEco, Smuin Ballet, Quixotic/Fusion, Grand Rapids Ballet (with co-choreographer Vanessa Thiessen), and Diablo Ballet, where he was resident choreographer from 2013-2018. He danced professionally with Ballet Arizona, ODC/Dance, Company C Contemporary Ballet, and Diablo Ballet, where he was nominated for an Isadora Duncan award for “Outstanding Performance- Individual” in 2013. Robert is also Director of Choreography for Art Haus, a Playa performance group whose first production featured a reimagined Rite of Spring with full orchestra and over 40 performers at Burning Man 2017. Last year, Art Haus presented his work We, Human, and this summer, will present his new Firebird on Playa. In 2017, Robert was appointed artistic director of Berkeley Ballet Theater, where he is dedicated to inspiring the next generation of movers and shakers. He also holds a degree in business from Rio Salado College.