Meet the Composer

Steven Reker

Steven Reker is composing and performing vocal and instrumental music for Tyler Tyler, a full-evening work directed by Yasuko Yokoshi, and choreographed by Yokoshi and Masumi Seyama, a revered teacher of Kabuki "Su-odori" ("pure dance") in Tokyo. Tyler Tyler will be performed four times at Dance Theater Workshop in March 2010 (and will tour in Sept-Oct 2010). Tyler Tyler is performed by two NYC-based postmodern dancers and three traditional Kabuki Su-odori performers from the Seyama Dance School in Tokyo. Reker will perform his composition live, on voice, toy piano, and bass guitar (referencing the sound of the traditional Japanese stringed instrument, the shamisen). With Tyler Tyler, Yokoshi and Reker are experimenting with traditional and contemporary forms to investigate how much culture in an art form really is transferable. Masumi Seyama has given Yokoshi pieces of traditional Kabuki Su-odori repertory (created by the renowned Kanjyuro Fujima) for the project, which Yokoshi is deconstructing, rearranging, and sifting through her own postmodern aesthetic to create new dance material. Reker’s music is similarly full of cross-references and referrals, as he is processing the musical information of traditional Japanese folk songs through his own idiom of "experimental folk music" to compose the original score.

Be sure to check out the Pre-Show Coffee and Conversation on March 17th or the Post-Show Talk on March 19th for a glimpse into the creative process behind this new work.