In 2016, Boston Ballet officially brought William Forsythe back to the U.S. after the revolutionary choreographer’s four-decade European career. A five-year partnership with the company promises that Forsythe will add at least one piece to its repertoire each year, and it gives him an American home base for creating new work. Boston Ballet’s Full on […]
As told to Amy Brandt by Leta Biasucci I first saw a video of The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude as a student at the San Francisco Ballet School summer program. Then we learned a little bit of it in variations class, and it made such an impression on me. It was unlike anything I had […]
Kathleen Breen Combes and Bo Busby in Forsythe’s Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude. Photo by Gene Schiavone, Courtesy Boston Ballet. If you ask most dancers whose work they hope to perform, William Forsythe is usually at the top of the list. (How many of us have drooled over videos of In the middle, somewhat elevated?) He’s […]
This story originally appeared in the August/September 2015 issue of Pointe. William Forsythe isn’t a large man, and he’s not particularly flashy. But when he sidled into Pacific Northwest Ballet’s rehearsal studio on a bright winter afternoon, the dancers all gravitated to him, like sunflowers stretching to the sun. “Gather, my dears!” he greeted them, […]
As Pacific Northwest Ballet revs up for its upcoming triple bill devoted entirely to the works of William Forsythe, the company will live stream a special lecture-demonstration with the groundbreaking choreographer tonight on its website. The evening includes a candid interview of Forsythe by artistic director Peter Boal, an up-close rehearsal with PNB dancers […]
When audience members opened their programs at New York City Ballet’s revival of Herman Schmerman a few weeks ago, one name had everyone buzzing: Naomi Corti. Just an apprentice, she was dancing a featured role alongside principals and soloists in William Forsythe‘s challenging, go-for-broke choreography. How was this going to go down? Quite well, actually. […]
When Boston Ballet announced its partnership with choreographer William Forsythe last year, it named his full-length Artifact as its first new acquisition. Created in 1984, Artifact is considered by many to be Forsythe’s greatest masterpiece, yet it has never been performed in its entirety by a U.S. company. Simultaneously abstract and theatrical (two characters—a Person […]
This story originally appeared in the October/November 2016 issue of Pointe. After 40 years in Europe, choreographer William Forsythe recently put down stateside roots as a professor at the University of Southern California’s new Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. USC is welcoming him with Fall for Forsythe, a monthlong festival that culminates October 21–23, when […]