Post:ballet is a contemporary dance company based in Berkeley, CA founded by Artistic Director Robin Dekkers in 2009. Dedicated to creating interdisciplinary works that push artistic boundaries and challenge social norms, Dekkers’ collaborative approach to dance making results in works that are “decidedly daring and always beautifully performed” (SF Arts Monthly). Integrating the company’s classically trained dancers with composers, animators, architects, cinematographers, designers, and sculptors, Post:ballet has been presented at Jacob’s Pillow’s Inside/Out Festival, SF International Arts Festival, Seattle’s Against the Grain Festival, SF Frameline Film Festival, and SF Dance Film Festival.
Now in its 14th Season, Post:ballet has proven its ability to successfully innovate through an ever-changing landscape for arts organizations, using constraints as a catalyst for creativity. Over the pandemic, Post:ballet produced several films including: Playing Changes, co-presented with SF Symphony featuring choreography set to 7 works for solo violin, including 3 original commissions; La Folia, presented by the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; A Natural History of Vacant Lots, presented by SF Trolley Dances in collaboration with The Living Earth Show; Shaker Loops, presented by Berkeley Symphony; Been Lovin’ You, featured at the SF Dance Film Festival and on display at the SF Airport’s International Terminal; and Waltz of the Snowflakes, a short film of contemporary choreography set to Tchaikovsky’s score and filmed in an abandoned section of the Alameda waterfront, which has been viewed over 300,000 times on YouTube since its November 2020 premiere.
In 2019, Post:ballet became the official company of Berkeley Ballet Theater, where Dekkers serves as Artistic Director. Founded in 1981 with a mission to ensure all interested dancers can pursue rigorous pre-professional ballet training regardless of gender, race, socioeconomic status, or body type, Berkeley Ballet Theater prioritizes teaching ballet in a nurturing, inclusive, and forward-thinking environment. Combined with Post:ballet’s continued commitment to equitable hiring practices and intentional collaboration with diverse and exceptional artists, the company and school are in a unique position to meaningfully ask “what’s next” for ballet, training tomorrow’s dancers and bringing together some of today’s most groundbreaking working artists.
Vanessa Thiessen (choreographer and co-director) is a choreographer, artistic collaborator and educator. Resident Choreographer for Post:ballet from 2017-2021, her works include La Folia, Hades and Persephone, and Junction, as well as co-choreographed works with Robin Dekkers including Lavender Country (nominated for Best Dance Performance 2019 by SF Classical Voice), Incandescent Body, From Now On (Dance Theater of San Francisco), and Dear Light Along the Path to Nothingness (Grand Rapids Ballet).
From 2013-2015, Thiessen worked alongside ODC/Dance Co-Director KT Nelson, generating choreography for Sacramento Ballet, Owen/Cox Dance, RAWdance, and for Chris Mason Johnson’s dance film From The Beginning. In 2018, she created From the Well of Echoes for Berkeley Ballet Theater in collaboration with the Berkeley Symphony, and in 2019, she created Left for BodyVox JAG in collaboration with the Portland Youth Symphony.
Thiessen teaches at Oregon Ballet Theater, Reed College, BodyVox, Open Space, and Berkeley Ballet Theater. She danced professionally with Post:ballet, Skinner/Kirk, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Project B., ODC/Dance (where she was nominated for an Isadora Duncan award for her performance in They’ve Lost Their Footing), Smuin Ballet, and Oregon Ballet Theater.
Benjamin Tarquin (cinematographer, editor, and co-director) is an international videographer, photographer and editor, at the intersection of the classical arts, documentary, and street dance. Based part of the year in Japan and part of the year in his hometown Oakland, CA, Tarquin uses visual and electronic media to synthesize movement, light, and acoustics into new and evocative artistic expression.
Tarquin grew up to the sounds of the Oakland underground before studying architecture at La Villette in Paris, France. His experience in design led him over the last decade to help build YAK Films into an internationally acclaimed video production company capturing new forms of street dance emerging from the United States, Europe, and Asia. Several viral videos brought this youth-led artistic and political content to the cultural mainstream, giving inner-city youth a powerful and constructive outlet and helping to establish an international street dance scene. In this capacity, Tarquin collaborated with high-profile artists like Lil' Buck and Les Twins on projects for clients like Sony, Redbull, Adidas, Yonex and Apple. YAK Films has over a million subscribers on YouTube.
His more recent work under Yabe Media expands beyond street dance to produce music videos, short films, and commercials. He has collaborated with Post:ballet since 2019 on projects including Waltz of the Snowflakes, Playing Changes, and Swan Lake, taking a fresh perspective to ballet.
Robin Dekkers (co-director) is dedicated to inspiring artists and audiences with their passion for movement and collaboration. Named “25 To Watch” by DANCE Magazine and celebrated for their direction of multi-disciplinary works that are “inventive, focused, sophisticated, and anything but risk averse” by SF Chronicle, Dekkers is also Artistic Director of Berkeley Ballet Theater, the official school of Post:ballet.
Dekkers 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, Julia Adam, and Paul Taylor. Dekkers’ choreography has been presented at Jacob’s Pillow, SF International Arts Festival, Tanzsommer Festival, Ballet Builders Showcase, Against the Grain Festival, and WestWave Dance Festival. Commissions include SF Dance Film Festival, AXIS Dance Company, Kansas City Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, sjDANCEco, Smuin Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet (with co-choreographer Vanessa Thiessen), and Diablo Ballet, where they were resident choreographer from 2013-2018. They are currently Director of Choreography for Art Haus, a performance collective that has presented large-scale collaborations in Black Rock City including Dekkers’ Firebird, Rite of Spring, and We, Human.
Dekkers recently co-choreographed a scene for Starz Network’s ‘Blindspotting’ with Lil Buck and Jon Boogz, performing in the scene together with these artists and the Post:ballet dancers for the series’ season finale. Dekkers has created new works for the dance departments at Stanford University, Southern Methodist University, San Jose State University, and Virginia Commonwealth University, and regularly teaches company classes for AXIS Dance Company, Smuin Ballet, LINES Ballet, and ODC/Dance. They also hold a degree in business from Rio Salado College.