Robin Dekkers
Robin Dekkers, Artistic Director
Robin Dekkers, founder and Artistic Director of Post:ballet, was named “25 To Watch” by DANCE Magazine and has choreographed and/or directed new collaborations for Post:ballet including evening-length productions such as Do Be, Lyra and Lavender Country; one-act works including Milieu, Mine is Yours, When in Doubt, and ourevolution; and dance films including Swan Lake, Dance of the Knights, and Flutter (in collaboration with AXIS Dance Company). Robin's work has been presented at Jacob’s Pillow, SF International Arts Festival, Vienna's Tanzsommer Festival, NYC's Ballet Builders Showcase, Seattle's Against the Grain Festival, and SF Frameline Film Festival. Past commissions include Kansas City Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Smuin Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, sjDANCEco, and Diablo Ballet, where they were resident choreographer from 2013-2018. They've also created new works at Stanford University, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Richmond. Robin has created short films including Coming Home, commissioned by the SF Dance Film Festival; Tassel, created in collaboration with The Living Earth Show; Playing Changes, featuring violinist Helen Kim and produced in partnership with San Francisco Symphony; Been Lovin' You, which closed the SF Dance Film Festival's 2022 opening night program; and Waltz of the Snowflakes, which was created with cinematographer/editor Benjamin Tarquin and has been viewed over 300,000 times on YouTube since its premiere in 2020. In 2021, Robin choreographed the season finale dance sequence for Starz Network's Blindspotting series in collaboration with Lil Buck, Jon Boogz, and the Post:ballet dancers. Robin danced professionally with Ballet Arizona, ODC/Dance, Company C Contemporary Ballet, and Diablo Ballet, where they were nominated for an Isadora Duncan award for “Outstanding Performance- Individual” in 2013. They danced leading roles in works by George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, José Límon, KT Nelson, Val Caniparoli, Lar Lubovitch, Jodie Gates, Trey McIntyre, Dominic Walsh, Septime Webre, and Paul Taylor. Robin is also the Artistic Director of Berkeley Ballet Theater, the official school of Post:ballet, where they infuse their passion for collaboration into the training and performance opportunities for the next generation of dancers. Robin regularly teaches company class for Smuin Ballet, AXIS Dance Company, and ODC/Dance, and also holds a degree in business from Rio Salado College. Robin is also Director of Choreography for Art Haus, a Playa performance group whose performances include reimagined versions of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Firebird as well as contemporary works including Noble Beast, In C, and We, Human.
Photo by Maximillian Tortoriello
Moscelyne ParkeHarrison, Associate Artistic Director, Resident Choreographer 2022-24
Moscelyne ParkeHarrison is a dance artist based in the Bay Area. She is the Associate Artistic Director, Resident Choreographer, and Company Artist at Post:ballet, and co-director of NEFA and MassCulturalCouncil award winning dance collective BODYSONNET. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and recipient of the Artist as Citizen Award. She trained at Hubbard Street Pro, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, b12, Banff Centre for the Arts, and Jacob’s Pillow.
She has had the pleasure of performing in proscenium works, installations, and films by Crystal Pite, Martha Graham, José Limón, Ihsan Rustem, Nacho Duato, Bill T Jones, Johannes Wieland, Roy Assaf, Hannes Langolf, Vanessa Thiessen, David Michalek, Francesca Harper, Helen Simoneau, Katarzyna Skarpetowska, Mia J Chong, Emily Hansel, Chuck Wilt Liss Fain, Sharp & Fine, Robin Dekkers and more. She performed the feature role of Eurydice in Post:ballet’s feature length film ‘Lyra’.
Moscelyne has received support from the Anthony Quinn Foundation, Deborah Slater Dance Theater Studio 210 Residency, and commissions from Metropolis Ensemble, The Peace Studio, Lines Training Program and Post:ballet.
Moscelyne is a faculty member at Berkeley Ballet Theater, Lines Training and Dance Center, City Dance, Equinox, and ODC. She has taught workshops at UC Davis, Berkshire Pulse, and Post:ballet. From 2016-19 she led a community engagement program at the Juilliard School, bringing dance, drama, and music to various rehabilitation centers in NY.
This coming year she looks forward to producing a show in San Francisco for BODYSONNET, working with Deborah Slater Dance Theater, and creating a new evening length immersive theater work for Post:ballet.
Moscelyne is originally from the Berkshires in Massachusetts.
Andy Meyerson, photography by Natalia Perez
Andy Meyerson, Music Director
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, and released two critically acclaimed albums, and has performed, lectured, and given masterclasses across the country.
Memorizing every work it performs, The Living Earth Show thrives on pushing the boundaries of technical and artistic possibility in its presentation of commissioned electro-acoustic chamber music. It has presented seasons of commissioned multimedia productions since 2011, working with dance companies, visual artists, sculptors, poets, and other musicians to craft compelling, immersive, San Francisco-centric work. The ensemble has commissioned and premiered works by such composers as Anna Meredith, Timo Andres, Nicole Lizée, M. Lamar, Raven Chacon, Christopher Cerrone, Alireza Mashayekhi, Jacob Cooper, Brian Ferneyhough, Samuel Adams, Ken Ueno, Luciano Chessa, Danny Clay, Sharmi Basu, Ted Hearne, Sarah Hennies, Morgan Craft, Adrian Knight, Ava Mendoza, Alden Jenks, and Zachary James Watkins. Many of these commissions can be found on the group’s critically acclaimed albums High Art (Innova Records, 2013) and Dance Music (New Amsterdam Records, 2016).
The Living Earth Show’s 2018-19 San Francisco season includes several world premiere variable media productions. The first, “Hyphen”, is curated by composer Farnood HaghaniPour and investigates the sonic unification (if any exists) of Iranian musical artists living in Iran and abroad, featuring new works written by Alireza Mashayekhi, Aida Shirazi, Nima Rowshan, and HaghaniPour himself, presented in conjunction with projected video created by Iranian video artists of the composers’ choosing. The second, “American Music”, is a show of works written by eight composers illustrating the range of works created within and about the current borders of the United States. The third, COMMANDO, features works by the ensemble created in collaboration with eight of the most renowned queer and trans vocalists on the west coast, blending rock, metal, spoken word, and chamber music in the service of using traditionally masculine and heteronormative art forms as sites to celebrate and revel in queerness. The final work, “Tremble Staves”, is a multimedia production created for the ensemble by Raven Chacon and will be presented in the waters of Sutro Baths. The Living Earth Show will also release its third album, “Echoes”, created in collaboration with Kronos Quartet and Youth Speaks, and serve as artists in residence at the University of South Carolina and the University of Michigan.
Vanessa Thiessen, photography by RJ Muna
Vanessa Thiessen, Resident Choreographer
Vanessa Thiessen is a choreographer, artistic collaborator, and teacher. She joined Post:Ballet as a dancer in 2014, transitioned to Movement Director, and was named Resident Choreographer for the company in 2017. Her works include Hades and Persephone, Junction, and Lavender Country (nominated for Best Dance Performance 2019 by SF Classical Voice). Vanessa also co-choreographs with Post:Ballet Artistic Director Robin Dekkers; their pieces include Incandescent Body, From Now On (Dance Theater of San Francisco), and Dear Light Along the Path to Nothingness (Grand Rapids Ballet).
Her current project, Lyra, is a full-length work based on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, and is set to premiere in the summer of 2020. In collaboration with Robin Dekkers and composer Samuel Adams, Vanessa has been exploring the movement language for Lyra over the past two years.
Vanessa has long been inspired by artistic collaborations. Beginning in 2001, she created Smiling Outside Under a Cloudless Sky and In The Style Of with fellow Oregon Ballet Theatre dancer Anne Mueller. In 2008, she created In Love We Disappear, performed live with San Francisco men's choir Conspiracy of Beards. From 2013-2015, Vanessa worked alongside ODC Dance Co-Artistic Director KT Nelson, generating choreography for Sacramento Ballet, Owen/Cox Dance, RAWdance, Opera Parallèle, SF Conservatory of Music Blueprint Project, and for Chris Mason Johnson's dance film From The Beginning. In 2018, she created From the Well of Echoes for Berkeley Ballet Theater’s Studio Company in collaboration with the Berkeley Symphony, and in 2019, she created Left for BodyVox JAG in collaboration with the Portland Youth Symphony.
Vanessa is the head of the ballet program at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and teaches at Northwest Dance Project, BodyVox, and Berkeley Ballet Theater. A dance educator since 2002, Vanessa is dedicated to teaching the highest quality dance in a fun and nurturing environment, leading classes and workshops for dancers and non-dancers of all ages and backgrounds. She has taught at San Francisco State University, Mills College, Smuin Ballet, ODC Dance, Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Portland Ballet, Sultanov Russian Ballet Academy, and Oregon Performing Arts School.
Vanessa began her dance career at Oregon Ballet Theatre (1995-2003). She joined the company as a young teen, and by age 18 she began performing lead roles in ballets such as Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, George Balanchine's Serenade and Who Cares?, Paul Taylor's Cloven Kingdom, and Robert Joffrey's Pas des Déesses. Vanessa danced in San Francisco with Smuin Ballet (2003-2008), Amy Seiwert's Imagery (2004-2010), Post:Ballet (2014-2016), and ODC Dance (2008-2014), where she was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Award for her performance in They've Lost Their Footing. She has had the privilege of working with talented choreographers such as Trey McIntyre, James Canfield, Paul Vasterling, Bebe Miller, David Parsons, Donald Byrd, Michael Smuin, Kirk Peterson, Eliot Feld, Brenda Way, Kimi Okada, KT Nelson, Kate Weare, Amy Seiwert, and Robin Dekkers.
Christian Squires, photography by Da Karai
Christian Squires, creative advisor
Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, Christian began his artistic career as a professional dancer, performing soloist and principal roles with Boston Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater, Smuin Ballet, Diablo Ballet, and Post:Ballet. He is currently a member of ODC/Dance, and has danced in works by Helen Pickett, George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Val Caniparoli, and Twyla Tharp. In addition, Christian has performed in and restaged ballets for choreographers including Amy Seiwert, Adam Hougland, and Robin Dekkers.
In 2012, he designed his first costumes for Post:Ballet, and has since designed and created costumes for companies including sjDANCEco, Grand Rapids Ballet, Kansas City Dance Festival, and Diablo Ballet. In 2015, Christian designed and constructed costumes for Quixotic Cirque Noveau's celebrated Firebird production, and most recently, he designed costumes for Louisville Ballet's new evening-length Romeo and Juliet. He is also the costume designer for Art Haus, a Playa-based performance ensemble that presents live music, dance, and structural art collaborations at Burning Man. With Art Haus, he has costumed reimagined versions of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Firebird as well as We, Human, a contemporary work set to Reich’s Eight Lines.
A natural evolution of his work as a dancer, costume designer, and repertieur, Christian was appointed Creative Advisor of Post:Ballet in 2016, where he collaborates intimately with the artistic team to bring the company's programming to life. Christian's extensive experience in all aspects of dance, together with his wildly imaginative creative voice, has enabled him to unite his passions for fashion and movement into cohesive, meaningful, and moving performance experiences.
Ali Taylor Lange, photography by Natalia Perez
Ali Taylor Lange, Executive Director
Ali Taylor Lange is an administrator and dancer by training with experience in non-profit development. Passionate about the study of ballet from an early age she pursued training with schools across the US ,including Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theatre and into college where she pursued a B.A. in literary journalism at UC Irvine before receiving an M.A. in magazine writing from New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Ali’s journalism has been published in Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Esquire and Outside magazines as well as regional publications on both coasts.
She joined Berkeley Ballet Theater in 2012 and left as its General Manager, to work as the Development Director for Inspire Youth Project, a non-profit devoted to providing mentorship and job training for children affected by HIV, abuse, neglect and homelessness. Following this, she focused on institutional and corporate partnerships at the San Francisco Symphony successfully receiving funding from the James Irvine Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, Wells Fargo, Chevron Corporation, Emirates Airlines, and more. In 2015 Ali was recruited by the BBT Board of Directors to pioneer the ED position at BBT in advance of the organizations imminent move to it's current home in the Gilman District in Berkeley.