Jacksonville University, The Joffrey Ballet, and the School of American Ballet were all different places that William Forsythe received his formal modern and ballet dance training from. This became a huge opportunity to be influenced by teachers such as Nolan Dingman, Maggie Black, Finis Jung, Jonathan Watts, Meredith Baylis, William Griffith, and Pat Wilde.
His first choreography was produced at Stuttgart Ballet where he was invited by John Cranko. Within these good five years at Stuttgart-he blossomed, creating works for ballet companies in Munich, London, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Paris, New York, and San Fransisco. In 1984, he became the ballet director of Frankfurt Theater where his seeds blossomed for twenty years.
With collaborations of architectural and other art based projects, he joined with Ohio State Department of Dance and Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design to work with and create an exciting website that explores his work on new levels! It includes tools as to how to see choreography in new ways!
Here is a link to this website:
http://synchronousobjects.osu.edu/content.html#/movementMaterialIndex
((I thought I had posted this on March 2nd. I was sure that I published it, but then when I checked today it didn't go through. I seriously had this done though- I wrote it up and emailed it to myself, so I have proof :))
ReplyDeleteHi Ashley! What an interesting soul William is! I was wondering if you knew what drew him to dance in the first place and at what age did he begin? Also, do you know of anything else that influenced his work besides his teachers? You listed many names for people who taught him at Jacksonville University, ABT and the Joffery, but do you know which one of them made the biggest impact in his training and work? I know he seems to be very interested in view point and visual art, but is there anything else that really drew him into what he's chosen to do? What an accomplishment to set his first piece on the Stuttgart Ballet; do you happen to know the name of that work? I know I have a lot of questions, but he seems to be an interesting person and I'd love to know more, great Blog so far!
Carrie
Awesome question! Yes, actually it's funny that you ask because I just saw a video of an interview that he had and he describes the first time that he remembers dancing was when he was about "before 10" years old and he was pretending to be Fred Astaire and he had, by imagination, Ginger Rodgers and they were doing a ballroom dance for his parents. After that, he describes just simply "always dancing" and even putting music on and dancing all the time in his house. Yet, even though Forsythe adored Fred Astaire, his most significant influence came from George Balanchine. When he studies at Jacksonville University, he was trained by Nolan Dingman who actually danced as an early company member of Balanchines. I think this is what definitely drew Forsythe's interest to the form and style.
DeleteI really enjoy the way this work looks aesthetically. I also enjoy the social interactions that are created between the work and the dancers, the work and the audience, and the audience members to one another. Just like with Alwin Nikolais, I can see how William Forsythe’s works utilize technology and objects in addition to the performer to transform the mover as well as the space. Likewise, both of these artists are known for their collaborative efforts with other artists both within the dance world and in other artistic disciplines. Both artists are also pioneers within the dance world, Nikolais for his innovation with the stage, and Forsythe for his innovation with movement and interactions. I would like to investigate more of William Forsythe’s collaborative works with artists and his own ventures into other disciplines. I am really interested in Forsythe’s Improvisation Technologies, I believe it is called “Point-Line Improvisation”.
ReplyDeleteJulie
I totally agree with you Julie! It's amazing how creative and and collaborative they are indeed-how far, especially Forsythe, is willing to stretch his limits and boundaries in this artistic discipline to challenge his own views on what dance looks like to him. What gets me is just how incredibly smart William is. He is a very analytical man. He always keeps the importance of math, physics, and philosophy in dance.
ReplyDeleteAlso, to fill you in on what you just mentioned, it is called Improvisation Technologies: A Tool for The Anayltical Dance Eye which was created in 1994. The program basically focuses on assisting with creating movements in improvisation. It has been a great tool used by professional dance companies, universities, conservatories, and even post graduate architecture programs!