92NY Presents The Living Earth Show and Post:ballet: Lyra

The 92nd Street Y New York (92NY) one of New York’s leading cultural venues presents the The Living Earth Show and Post:ballet: Lyra  co-presented by 92NY’s Tisch Music and Harkness Dance Center on Saturday December 14 2024 at 7:30pm at Buttenwieser Hall at The Arnhold Center. Tickets start at $40 and are available at 92ny.org/event/the-living-earth-show-lyra.

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is reimagined in this provocative hauntingly beautiful collaborative production from the experimental San Francisco-based guitar/percussion duo The Living Earth Show and contemporary dance company Post:ballet. thelivingearthshow.com.

Blending music by Samuel Adams choreography by Vanessa Thiessen film directed by Post:ballet Artistic Director Robin Dekkers and cinematography by Benjamin Tarquin Lyra explores themes of empathy technology and our relationship to the natural world in a stunning new realization of a timeless ancient story. The performance features the musicians live onstage with dance video projected followed by a live solo by Babatunji Johnson to end the evening.

THE LIVING EARTH SHOW

Travis Andrews guitars

Andy Meyerson percussion

POST:BALLET

BABATUNJI JOHNSON dancer

LYRA

Music by SAMUEL ADAMS

Choreography by VANESSA THIESSEN

with significant contributions by the dance artists

Cinematography Video Direction and Editing by BENJAMIN TARQUIN

Cast

Atropos Emily Hansel

Orpheus Babatunji Johnson

Eurydice Moscelyne ParkeHarrison

Cerberus Mia J. Chong Colleen Loverde Anthony Pucci

Hades Cora Cliburn

Persephone Landes Dixon

Clotho Travis Andrews

Lachesis Andy Meyerson

Gods and Goddesses/

Underworld Beings Charmaine Butcher Mia J. Chong Caitlin Hicks Colleen Loverde Jenna Marie Anthony Pucci Christian Squires

Wedding Company

I. unison

II. ricochet

III. split

IV. multiply

V. rise

VI. fall

VII. unison

Interlude No. 1 Atropos

Field Orpheus Eurydice Atropos

Surface Down Orpheus Eurydice

Interlude No. 2 Eurydice

Canopy Orpheus Cerberus

Hades and Persephone Hades Persophone

Ritornello Orpheus Eurydice

Gymnopédie Hades Persephone Orpheus Eurydice

River Company

Interlude No. 3 Hades Orpheus Eurydice

Surface Up Hades Orpheus Eurydice

ABOUT THE ARTISTS



Deemed “outstanding” (San Francisco Chronicle) “transcendent” (Charleston City Paper) and one of the “22 for ‘22 performers to watch” (The Washington Post) The Living Earth Show — guitarist Travis Andrews and percussionist Andy Meyerson—represents the future of American contemporary and experimental chamber music.

The Living Earth Show exists to push the boundaries of technical and artistic possibility while amplifying voices perspectives and bodies that the classical music tradition has often excluded. The organization uses the tools of experimental classical music to facilitate the creation of its collaborators’ most ambitious musical visions and create work that reflects and responds to our world.

Based in San Francisco The Living Earth Show has presented seasons of commissioned multimedia productions since 2011 working with dance companies visual artists sculptors poets and other musicians to craft compelling immersive California-centric productions.

Recent live highlights include productions at Rewire Festival in The Netherlands (Elemental View a collaboration with Ellen Fullman) Transgress Fest (headlining first US festival foregrounding trans punk artists with COMMANDO TLES’s queer and trans nü metal collective) Sutro Baths (Tremble Staves a collaboration with the National Park Service) The Met Cloisters (Lordship & Bondage: The Birth of the Negro Superman a collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Spoleto Festival USA.

The Living Earth Show has released five recordings several of which are available via Earthy Records the organization’s in-house record label of innovative virtuosic chamber music. The label’s inaugural year featured albums created with Danny Clay (Music for Hard Times) and Samuel Adams (Lyra) both released in collaboration with filmmakers and visual artists.

Committed to supporting the next generation of artistic thinkers The Living Earth Show has been in residence at the University of Maryland (2021) the Music Department at Stanford University (2019) the University of Michigan Center for World Performance Studies (2019 2023) University of California Davis (2022) and University of South Carolina (2018). For more information visit thelivingearthshow.com.

Post:ballet is a contemporary dance company based in Berkeley California founded by Artistic Director Robin Dekkers. Dedicated to creating interdisciplinary works that push artistic boundaries and challenge social norms Dekkers’ collaborative approach to dancemaking results in works that are “decidedly daring and always beautifully performed” (SF/Arts Monthly). Integrating the company’s versatile dancers with composers musicians animators architects cinematographers designers and sculptors Post:ballet has collaborated with artists including Kronos Quartet San Francisco Girls Chorus Lavender Country The Living Earth Show and Star Amerasu since its inception in 2009.

Now in its 15th 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.

During the pandemic Post:ballet produced several films including: Playing Changes co-presented with the San Francisco Symphony featuring choreography set to seven solos for violinist Helen Kim including three original commissions; La Folia presented by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive with music by Danny Clay; A Natural History of Vacant Lots presented by San Francisco Trolley Dances; Shaker Loops presented by the Berkeley Symphony; Been Lovin’ You featured at the SF Dance Film Festival and recently highlighted at the entrance of the San Francisco Airport’s International Terminal; and Waltz of the Snowflakes a short film of contemporary choreography set to Tchaikovsky’s score from The Nutcracker and filmed in an abandoned section of the Alameda California waterfront which has been viewed over 300000 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 ballet training regardless of gender race socioeconomic status or body type Berkeley Ballet Theater provides rigorous training 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 artists.

In 2023 Post:ballet named company dancer and resident choreographer Moscelyne ParkeHarrison as the company’s first associate artistic director. ParkeHarrison has created works for film and the stage in collaboration with the Post:ballet artists and is currently building her first evening-length immersive dance theater work for Post:ballet at The Midway in San Francisco.

Babatunji Johnson is a dance artist choreographer and creative innovator based in San Francisco. Though never formally trained as a child Johnson was always moving his body to the beat. At the age of 15 he discovered the art of hip-hop. Following this epiphany of love he grew up through his teens breaking and popping on street corners in Hilo Hawai’i. After being “discovered” by a local dance instructor he began his formal training in various styles of dance including ballet. This would eventually lead him to LINE Ballet’s Training Program and from there into the company.

For over a decade he has worked with one of the greatest American choreographers Alonzo King. As a freelance dancer Johnson has worked with Post:ballet Ishida Dance Company SFDanceworks tinypistol and Ballare Carmel. He has performed works by choreographers and artists including Adji Cissoko Yue Yin Danielle Rowe Brett Conway Rich and Tone Talauega David Harvey Mike Tyus and Vân-Ánh Võ. Additionally his work for film includes features in Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs’ Blindspotting on Starz as well as Misty Copeland’s short art film Flower.

Over the past eight years Johnson has developed a unique movement language blending his background in ballet contemporary breaking and hip hop. He has choreographed for Berkeley Ballet Theater Boston Dance Theater Post:ballet Trolley Dance SFDanceworks and ZiRu Dance among other Bay Area companies. As a solo artist Johnson has performed internationally collaborating with visual sound and technical artists of countless genres. His work has been seen at Museum of Dance Lion’s Jaw performance + dance festival København Danser and SFJazz in collaboration with Terri Lyne Carrington. In 2015 he was awarded a Princess Grace Award as well as a Chris Hellman Award for his outstanding achievements and promise in the world of dance.

About The 92nd Street Y New York: The 92nd Street Y New York (92NY) is a world-class center for the arts and innovation a convener of ideas and an incubator for creativity. 92NY offers extensive classes courses and events online including live concerts talks and master classes; fitness classes for all ages; 250+ art classes and parenting workshops for new moms and dads. The 92nd Street Y New York is transforming the way people share ideas and translate them into action all over the world. All of 92NY's programming is built on a foundation of Jewish values including the capacity of civil dialogue to change minds; the potential of education and the arts to change lives; and a commitment to welcoming and serving people of all ages races religions and ethnicities. For more information visit www.92NY.org.

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Host or Publisher Michelle Tabnick PR