Another stunning outdoor ballet video from Post:ballet, as their interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake premieres today and pirouettes around the Golden Gate Bridge.
This past holiday season, we got our Drosselmeyers in a bunch over this outdoor Nutcracker ballet on an Alameda tarmac, a remarkable piece of pandemic-era culture with masks and distanced dancing that still iterated on the timeless magic of the 130-year-old classic. The paradigm-smashing dance team at Post:ballet who brought us that video is at it again, this time springing forward with their interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake that places the dancers on the shores of the Pacific Ocean with a Golden Gate Bridge backdrop.
The video above is merely the one-minute Swan Lake trailer, but the full 15-minute version premieres tonight, April 1, at 7 p.m. PT. The show will be broadcast on Zoom, and will feature opportunities to Q&A with choreographer Robert Dekkers and the featured dancers. Admission is donation-based and pay-what-you-can, though the ticketing system will take donations as small as $1.
Once again shot by cinematographer Ben Tarquin, this Swan Lake features dazzling dance along recognizable SF Bay coastal locations like Baker Beach, Hawk Hill, the Presidio's Torpedo Wharf, Marin County's Moore Road Pier, and Treasure Island.
Choreographer and Post:ballet founder Robert Dekkers tells SFist the troupe has “a vision to use classical ballet as a foundation to develop innovative new collaborations with multidisciplinary artists. Over the years, we've presented works featuring artists working in film, photography, architecture, new music, fashion, animation, and visual art/painting, as well as the traditional collaborators of dance — lighting, scenic, and costume designers.”
This dance troupe has still had a 2020-21 season! To bide your time until 7 p.m. Thursday night, you can also check out their previous recent pandemic-era works A Natural History of Vacant Lots, their SF Symphony collaboration Playing Changes, and two Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive collaborations, La Folia and Eight Whiskus.
Post:Ballet’s ‘Swan Lake’ premieres Thursday, April 1, online at 7 p.m. PT. Donations encourages, tickets here
Related: Holiday Palate Cleanser: ‘Nutcracker’ Ballet On an Alameda Tarmac [SFist]
Images: Post:Ballet