JANUARY 26—FEBRUARY 1
MERE MORTALS
Artistic Director Tamara Rojo launches the 2024 season with an immersive sensory experience where sound is influenced by dance, and dance is shaped by orchestral and electronic music. The new work with music by Floating Points and choreography from Aszure Barton contextualizes the ancient parable of Pandora’s Box for our current technological world.
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Mere Mortals’ evening performances will include an afterparty in the price of the ticket, featuring a Bay Area DJ and a cash bar located in the lobby areas.
CHOREOGRAPHER: ASZURE BARTON
MUSIC COMPOSED BY: FLOATING POINTS
SAM SHEPHERD
Sam Shepherd–aka Floating Points–is one of the most respected names in music today. Known for his versatility and insatiable pursuit of exceptional sound, Shepherd is a boundary-pushing composer, curator, producer, and DJ who creates sonic environments that transport the listener into another world. His most recent projects include Promises (2021), a studio album in collaboration with Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra, which was named album of the year by Time Magazine and shortlisted for the Mercury Prize.
With this SF Ballet premiere, Shepherd composes his first work for the ballet stage, combining live orchestral music with electronic instruments.
ASZURE BARTON
Aszure Barton has been described as “brilliant” by the San Francisco Chronicle and “audacious” by The New York Times. She received her formal dance training from Canada’s National Ballet School, and as a choreographer has collaborated with celebrated performers and companies around the world including Ambrose Akinmusire, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Misty Copeland, Cyndi Lauper, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, Nederlands Dans Theater, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, among many others. Barton is a Bessie Award Honoree, a recipient of the prestigious Arts & Letters Award, and is official Ambassador 2 of Contemporary Dance in Canada. The first Artist in Residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Barton is the founder of Aszure Barton & Artists, a multidisciplinary, process-centered platform that celebrates collaboration.
HAMILL INDUSTRIES
Hamill Industries is a creative studio partnership composed of artists Pablo Barquín and Anna Diaz. The duo specializes in developing innovation projects based on experimentation and mixing emerging and traditional techniques to create new formats of visual communication. Since 2015, Hamill Industries has toured around the world with Floating Points, creating his visual universe and live immersive experiences. They have presented their work at festivals and institutions such as SÓNAR Festival, ARS Electronica, 180 Strand (London), Semipermanent, Mira Festival, Cosmocaixa Museum, Filmoteca de Catalunya, Coachella, and the Barbican Museum in London.