William Forsythe has been active in the field of choreography for over 45 years. His work is acknowledged for reorienting the practice of ballet from its identification with classical repertoire to a dynamic 21st century art form. Forsythe's deep interest in the fundamental principles of organization has led him to produce a wide range of projects including installations, films, and web-based knowledge creation. This July, William Forsythe’s Nowhere and Everywhere at the Same Time No. 2 installation will have its Asian Premiere at West Kowloon Cultural District.  Being the School of Dance Honorary Doctorate, we are delighted to invite Professor Forsythe to share the insight of this installation as well as his choreographic approaches to dance documentation, research, and education. 

Speaker:
Professor William Forsythe, Renowned Choreographer and 2010 The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Honorary Doctorate

Moderator:
Prof. Anna CY Chan, Dean of the School of Dance, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

About Professor William Forsythe
William Forsythe has been active in the field of choreography for over 45 years. His work is acknowledged for reorienting the practice of ballet from its identification with classical repertoire to a dynamic 21st century art form. Forsythe's deep interest in the fundamental principles of organization has led him to produce a wide range of projects including installations, films, and web-based knowledge creation.

Raised in New York, Forsythe danced with the Joffrey Ballet and later the Stuttgart Ballet, where he was appointed Resident Choreographer in 1976. In 1984, he began a 20-year tenure as director of the Ballet Frankfurt, after which he founded and directed The Forsythe Company from 2005 to 2015.

Awards received by Forsythe and his ensembles include the New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award (1988, 1998, 2004, 2007) and London’s Laurence Olivier Award (1992, 1999, 2009). Forsythe has been conveyed the title of Commandeur des Arts et Lettres (1999) by the government of France and has received the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale (2010), to name a few. In 2002 and 2003, he was the inaugural dance mentor in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, working with dancer and choreographer Sang Jijia of China.

Forsythe has developed new approaches to dance documentation, research, and education. His 1994 computer application “Improvisation Technologies: A Tool for the Analytical Dance Eye”, developed with the ZKM / Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe, is used as a teaching tool by professional companies, dance conservatories, universities, postgraduate architecture programs, and secondary schools worldwide. 2009 marked the launch of “Synchronous Objects for One Flat Thing”, a digital online score developed with The Ohio State University that reveals the organizational principles of the choreography and demonstrates their possible application within other disciplines.

Forsythe is a current Professor of Dance and Artistic Advisor for the Choreographic Institute at the University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance.

By Zoom & Invitation