Post:Ballet makes dance relevant to modern society. Artistic Director Robert Dekkers accomplishes this through his choreography (which is both expressive and organic) and the use of modern technologies, including cinematography and digital photography. The company also collaborates with visual artists, musicians and composers to create new works. Post:Ballet successfully completed its second season this past weekend with performance at the Herbst Theater, located in the center of San Francisco’s cultural aorta.
The program opened with Colouring, a piece that explores the nature of the creative process. Original score was created and performed live by Daniel Berkman. Artist Enrique Quintero diligently painted the backdrop with successive symbols and strokes as two dancers, Jared Hunt and Beau Campbell, reenacted a mock rehearsal. Photographer Natalia Perez captured the moment by moment action, which was projected at the end of the piece, showing everything in reverse. In essence, the audience was reliving everything they had just experienced with visual proof of how they had arrived.
Flutter showcased a trio of men, Daniel Marshalsay, Jonathan Mansgosing and Christian Squires. The piece opened with music by Steve Reich, a percussive, primitive, repetitive score, which later transitioned to the lyrical strains of J.S. Bach. Here Dekkers shows what he does best- explosive movement that made great use of three-dimensional space and highlighted the strength and abilities of the dancers, through successive turns and tours en l’air. Flutter is aptly named, for the behavior of the heart while watching their shirtless forms and the choreography – the dancers often looked as though they were moving through water…
Happiness of Pursuit, a playful piece for seven dancers, was a highlight, both for the wild abandon with which the dancers moved, and the music- this may well be the first ballet ever set to beat-boxing, flawlessly performed live by Joe Hickey.
The program closed with a world premiere of Interference Pattern, a study on the effects of observation. Dekkers was fascinated by a quantum physics experiment that showed that observation had an effect on the behavior of subatomic particles. This study lead to other questions: if observation effects the world on such a microscopic level, what other effects occur? The piece was performed against a cinematographic backdrop of the same choreography being performed during rehearsal times, both observed and unobserved by other dancers. Dekkers concludes that although the differences are subtle, they are palpable.
All of the dancers are classically trained, and collectively possess an impressive background. Post:Ballet provides them with a new expressive outlet of cutting edge choreography paired with creative collaboration. The sum total is a performance unlike any other. Ballet has taken a quantum leap.
