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ARIAH LESTER (Lester Arias)

Biography

ARIAH LESTER (Lester Arias) (Venezuela) is an engaging, charismatic performer who is generating a huge buzz internationally. With his androgynous appearance and clear countertenor, he guides his audience into a world where one reality merges almost unnoticed with another. Song, dance, film, storytelling, fashion, visual art and music merge to create a sensual, emotionally charged universe in which soft and hard, male and female, private and universal, strange and familiar effortless come together.

Having graduated from the School for New Dance Development (Amsterdam Academy of Theatre and Dance, 2016), ARIAH LESTER (Lester Arias) further developed his personal, unique style in House, a musical performance in which he allowed the audience to roam around in their own memories and imaginations. A performance in the form of a dream, received with rave reviews in and outside of the Netherlands and winner of the Sabam Jongtheaterschrijfprijs award at Theater Aan Zee 2017.

During Something Raw 2018, for Frascati Producties and as part of Fraslab ARIAH LESTER (Lester Arias) presented his latest performance, White [Ariane], created with lighting designer Katinka Marac. The solo was greatly appreaciated during the festival and at the end of September Frascati Producties will present an expanded version of White [Ariane]. The starting point for the production is the diary kept by ARIAH LESTER (Lester Arias)’s mother  during her pregnancy, written in the frm belief that her child would be a girl called Ariane. 28 years later, she crossed the Atlantic ocean to reveal this diary to her son. ARIAH LESTER (Lester Arias) adapted the words from his mother’s diary into a series of songs, creating a (liminal) space where monstrosity & beauty, female & male, light & darkness, Ariane / Lester / Ariah can all exist together.

ARIAH LESTER (Lester Arias) studied visual art, acting and modern dance at the Escula de Artes Plasticas Cristobal Rojas in Caracas (Venezuela). In 2016, he graduated from the School for New Dance Development at the Academy for Dance and Theatre in Amsterdam (SNDO). In recent years, his work has been recognised with the Moving Forward Festival’s Young Dance Makers Audience Award 2016; the Sabam Jongtheaterschrijfprijs award at TAZ 2017 and the Operadagen Rotterdam Award 2018. In 2017, he performed at TEDx Amsterdam. For Frascati Producties, at the beginning of 2018 as part of Fraslab he created the solo White [Ariane]. He is developing this production further with Frascati Producties for the upcoming season.

Together with musician Nicolas Blomberg he makes up the duo Lester&Nikki, who together created The Wild Things (2016) and House (2016), among others. Alongside his performance work he also teaches at SNDO.

Productions

  • White [Ariane] (Frascati Producties 2018)
  • White [Ariane] (Fraslab, Frascati Producties 2018)
  • House (2016, Lester&Nikki)
  • The Wild Things (2016, Lester & Nikki)
  • Manifest (2016)
  • The Hollanders (2015)
  • Fame Name (2014)
  • A solo for Britney Spears (2014)
  • They used to call me Gaga (2014, duet)
  • The Wardrobe (2013, solo)
  • Good God (2012, solo)
  • Lepus Constelado (2010, group choreography)

Press

“A theatre maker, song writer and rock artist from Venezuela, ARIAH LESTER’s (Lester Arias) star is rising dramatically. His performances are appealing and his style is completely original as he challenges the audience to enter a domain of limitless fantasy. This is how he engages with a sometimes cruel, alienated, and heartless world: a fresh search for intimacy and imagination.”

Operadagen Awards 2018

“ARIAH LESTER proves to be a versatile, intelligent personality; he confuses, make sus think and moves us.” 

jury report Sabam Jongtheaterschrijfprijs (TAZ 2017)