Ballet revolutionary William Forsythe turns 75
Published: Monday, Dec 23rd 2024, 13:10
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A master of modern ballet is getting older, but his dance style lives on on stage. The American William Forsythe shaped the dance world as an important innovator of classical ballet.
At almost 75 years old, some of the movements may no longer be quite so smooth. But the philosophy behind choreographer William Forsythe's ballet remains influential. The native New Yorker turns 75 on December 30.
For more than 50 years, Forsythe pushed the boundaries of classical and contemporary dance. It all began in New York, where he was born. There, Forsythe first danced with the Joffrey Ballet before moving to the Stuttgart Ballet. He was appointed house choreographer there in 1976. Over the next seven years, he created new works for the ensemble as well as for ballet companies in Munich, The Hague, London, Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, New York and San Francisco.
Dance with computer technology
In 1984, he began a formative twenty-year tenure as director of the Frankfurt Ballet, where he expanded his early choreographies, accelerated the movements and electrified the dance world with new impulses. Forsythe's works radiated onto stages all over the world. After the closure of Ballett Frankfurt at the beginning of the millennium, he founded "The Forsythe Company", which he led until 2015 and with which he developed new works. His earlier works were already part of the repertoire of almost every major ballet company in the world at that time.
And he had long since made a name for himself in Switzerland too. In 2020, the Zurich Ballet dedicated a tribute to him with a multi-part ballet evening in which three of his works were performed. From March 2025, his iconic choreography "In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated" will be performed again, also at Zurich Opera House. Forsythes created this in 1987 for the Paris Opera Ballet. It will be performed in the three-part ballet evening "Autographs" alongside choreographies by Crystal Pite and Wayne McGregor.
Forsythe's attempts to relate dance to computer technology, brain research or media art added a new level of complexity to the art form, commentators have written in recent decades. In Forsythe's work, dance does not tell a story, rather dance thinks about dance through dance.
Preservation of art
The US-American has been awarded almost every major international prize. In the course of his life, he became increasingly concerned with the question of how dance can be preserved and passed on. He developed new teaching methods and worked on a platform for digital dance scores called "Motion Bank".
Forsythe's archive, which he handed over to the ZKM Media Art Center in Karlsruhe last year, is also likely to contribute to this. Almost 4000 video tapes, data carriers, numerous notes, correspondence and photos were thus made accessible to the public. It is an insight into all the creative periods of this exceptional artist - which forms a living foundation for all future interpretations of the ballet.
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