- Title: GERMANY: BALLET FRANKFURT PERFORMS CONTEMPORARY DANCE "ENDLESS HOUSE"
- Date: 7th March 2001
- Summary: WIDE TOP SHOT OF BOCKENHEIMER DEPOT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PERFORMANCE OF 'ENDLESS HOUSE' VARIOUS, OF FORSYTHE AND DANCERS REHEARSING
- Embargoed: 22nd March 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: FRANKFURT, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Arts,General
- Reuters ID: LVA1ONDK4254QSD0S3Z4LVOZ9818
- Story Text: The Ballett Frankfurt is renowned the world over as one of the most innovative of the new contemporary ballet companies. The man behind it, William Forsythe, shares the secret of his success with Reuters as Ballett Frankfurt's new production "Endless House" takes to the stage.
Now at the peak of his success with the Ballett Frankfurt, William Forsythe has reason to be happy.
He was born in New York in 1949. After studying dance at Jacksonville University in Florida, he joined the Joffrey Ballet in New York. In 1973, he decided to move to the Stuttgart Ballett and it was here as a dancer and later as a choreographer, that he experienced different ideas that would lead him to develop his own brand of ballet as seen in Ballett Frankfurt.
His work is so much in demand that it now forms part of the repertoire of the New York, San Francisco, Covent Garden and Swedish Ballets to name but a few. In 1984, Forsythe arrived in Frankfurt determined to create challenging original works that would be far removed from conventional ballet and would win new audiences. He started by recruiting dancers from around the world, who had had traditional ballet training, but were not afraid of re-defining the concept of ballet.
"Well the reason we say Ballet is because we are all analysing the mechanics of motion and ballet requires this ability to analyse and valuate states of motion. So I've retained that, because it's where it comes from and I use people who are trained in ballet but who are not dependent on it".
Forsythe is at pains to point out that although he believes the concept of ballet should be challenged and developed, he does not deny the traditional ballet technique, he just seeks to use it as a base on which to develop new movements.
"I guess I'm trying to re-valuarise it in some respects, because I feel it is an interesting field of work, provided it doesn't compulsively stay focused on its own past. And if you look at it for what it is , which is a rigorous form of thinking about the body, I think it is quite interesting".
The Ballett Frankfurt is based at the city's Opera House, but often tours internationally. Since October 1999, the company has also performed at the Bockenheimer Depot (TAT) in Frankfurt, a performance space housed in a converted tram depot, that allows Forsythe to develop new site specific work, particularly works like 'Endless House' that involve interaction between the dancers and the audience. The company which has thirty-six dancers, two ballet masters and twenty nine technical and administrative staff, is partly funded by the city of Frankfurt and partly by private sponsors. In January 1999 Forsythe was appointed General Manager of both the Ballett Frankfurt and the TAT. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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