Space and Time (A William Forsythe-Inspired Master Class) with Tony Rizzi, Former Frankfurt Ballet Principal Dancer
Rizzi’s workshop will be a way of exploring the world and process of the choreographic works of William Forsythe, former Director of Ballet Frankfurt where Rizzi danced for 20 years and was his artistic advisor. The workshop will start out with a ballet class of around an hour, approaching ballet from a new angle. Looking at ballet not as form but as description of space and time. Already this approach will guide you easier into the Forsythe’s ideas of improvisation. We then venture into learning some movements from the repertoire. After learning the set material, the dancers are asked to perform many different transformative operations on the phrases. This allows the student to see the material not as a fixed picture of a dance but rather more like a 3-dimensional sculpture that can be taken apart, examined in detail, remolded and put back together in different configurations. Improvisation was used greatly in creating Forsythe ballets, even if eventually choreographed.