da:ns series 2019 Impressing the C...
da:ns focus: ForsytheA rule-breaker, risk-taker, he’s been hailed as ballet’s premier deconstructionist, postmodernist and a living legend-da:ns series 2019 shines a spotlight on William Forsythe through two of his major works created in 1988 and 2016, danced by two world renowned companies, Dresden Semperoper Ballett and Paris Opera Ballet.“Forsythe’s real trick is to combine postmodern disruption with a thorough understanding of the classical technique” – Financial TimesGolden cherries, ostentatious dresses, a ballet set to classical music—the czar would have been very impressed. But he has long since been swept away, just as living legend William Forsythe tends to sweep away conventional dance for something more radical and peppered with humour; he demonstrates this in the groundbreaking ballet Impressing the Czar, which premiered in 1988.A four-act, award-winning, postmodern ballet choreographed by the iconic William Forsythe, this ballet comments ironically and often humorously on the history of ballet and the economics of western culture.The ballet opens to opulent costumes and an elaborate set—a naughty pictorial broadsheet which reveals itself to be a scathing satire and deconstruction of art and dance history. The characters and plot pieces are abound with cultural references: Mr Pnut is a protagonist of sorts who embodies Saint Sebastian, a figure most famously depicted as being impaled by arrows; while golden objects mirror the gilded stucco on churches, a wink at the role of patron/commissioner that the religious institution played in art history.On its ruins, Forsythe rebuilds a new world: traditional ballet movements are heightened, accelerated and combined anew to create In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated. Originally a stand-alone piece, it electrified the ballet world when it was premiered by Paris Opera Ballet étoiles Sylvie Guillem, Isabelle Guérin, Laurent Hilaire, and Manuel Legris in 1987.In the two-part finale, dance and dancers alike celebrate themselves, to the sound of electronic beats. The extravagant dresses and sets are gone, and in the end, even the remnants of any cultural heritage are auctioned off. What remains is a whole company of men and women dressed as adolescent schoolgirls cavorting and stampeding wildly around the stage.About William ForsytheWilliam Forsythe is one of the most influential ballet choreographers and directors of our time. His choreographic style is both postmodern and deconstructivist. Believing that classical ballet is a language with rules to follow, his interest lies in bending and eventually breaking the rules. Using traditional positions, he develops them to the extreme where geometries of classical ballet are twisted, tilted or pulled out of line. His work is acknowledged for reorienting the practice of ballet from its identification with classical repertoire to a dynamic 21st century art form.About Dresden Semperoper BallettFounded at the beginning of the 19th century, Dresden Semperoper Ballett has defined itself as a contemporary ballet company, mastering a wide-ranging repertoire that includes full-length ballet classics, iconic works of great masters of our time, and creations by new up-and-coming choreographers. It is led by artistic director Aaron S. Watkin, who was a personal choreographic assistant to Forsythe.
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