Post:ballet to Present New Work on SFSymphony+

Charmaine Butcher and Babatunji Johnson in West Oakland’s 16th Street Station dancing to the music of Mary Kouyoumdjian in Robert Dekkers’ Playing Changes (still shot from video created by Ben Tarquin, courtesy of San Francisco Symphony and Post:ballet)

This coming Thursday, Post:ballet will present Playing Changes, an intimate new work by Artistic Director Robert Dekkers, which will be streamed for free on SFSymphony+. Following up on his work with Helen Kim, Associate Principal Second Violin of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), to create “Eight Whiskus,” Dekkers has choreographed seven movements for solo violin and dancers, with Kim providing the music for all of those movements. Each of those movements will be present either one or two dancers, and each will have music by a different composer. Specifics for composers, compositions, and dancers are as follows:

1. Samuel Adams; “Playing Changes” from Violin Diptych; Landes Dixon, dancer
2. Philip Glass; “Knee Play 2” from Einstein on the Beach; Cora Cliburn and Robert Dekkers, dancers
3. Elizabeth Ogonek; “Cradle Dance”; Caitlin Hicks, dancer
4. Daniel Bernard Roumain; “Filter”; Christian Squires, dancer
5. LJ White; “fly, into the light…”; Emily Hansel, dancer
6. Mary Kouyoumdjian; “Water and Dust”; Charmaine Butcher and Babatunji Johnson
7. Ambrose Akinmusire; “kodo”; Jenna Marie, dancer

The compositions by Ogonek, Kouyoumdjian, and Akinmusire will be receiving world premiere performances. Playing Changes will be presented as a video created by cinematographer Ben Tarquin.

This new offering will be available, free of charge, for streaming through the SFSymphony+ Browse Web page beginning this coming Thursday, March 4.