William Forsythe

(choreographer)

William Forsythe is an American choreographer and dancer, widely recognized for his innovative and influential work in contemporary ballet. Born in 1949 in New York City, he began his dance career with the Joffrey Ballet and later joined the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany. He became artistic director of Ballett Frankfurt in 1984, where he developed a signature style that blended classical technique with experimental movement. Forsythe is known for works such as In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated and for pushing the boundaries of traditional ballet. He later founded The Forsythe Company and has continued to shape the future of dance through teaching, installations, and collaborations across art forms.

His most acclaimed works are “Artifact” (1984), “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated” (1987), “Impressing the Czar” (1988), “Enemy in the Figure” (1989), “The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude” (1996), “One Flat Thing, Reproduced” (2000), “Heterotopia” (2006) among others. More recently Forsythe has created original works for the Paris Opera Ballet, English National Ballet, Boston Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, La Scala Ballet Company, as well as Sadler’s Wells Theatre (London) and the digital stage.

Forsythe has been commissioned to produce architectural and performance installations that have been presented in numerous museums and exhibitions, including the Whitney Biennial (New York, 1997), Louvre Museum (2006), Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich (2006), Tate Modern (London, 2009), MoMA (New York 2010), Venice Biennale (2005, 2009, 2012, 2014), MMK – Museum für Moderne Kunst (Frankfurt, 2015), 20th Biennale of Sydney (2016), ICA Boston (2011, 2018), Museum Folkwang (2019), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2020) and Kunsthaus Zürich 2021.

In collaboration with media specialists and educators, Forsythe has developed new approaches to dance documentation, research, and education. In 2002, Forsythe was chosen as the founding Dance Mentor for The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Forsythe is an Honorary Fellow at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London and holds an Honorary Doctorate from The Juilliard School in New York.