The New York Times? John Rockwell travels to Germany to report on William Forsythe?s new company:
?Mr. Forsythe comes from Long Island but has been based in Germany for 32 years. For nearly 20 of those years he led the Frankfurt Ballet, which he transformed into a pure expression of his aesthetic. But in the crisis that has engulfed German cultural subsidies, a crisis in which this city has led the way, Mr. Forsythe, after a protracted and very public fight, was forced to watch as his company was dismantled.
Now Frankfurt, the surrounding state of Hesse, the city of Dresden, its state of Saxony and various corporate and private sponsors have joined to back the new Forsythe Company for at least five years.
“Three Atmospheric Studies” will play here until May 14. Such is Mr. Forsythe’s reputation that his new company is already booked all over Europe and beyond. At 18 dancers, it is half the size of his old company, although Mr. Forsythe says he may hire guest dancers to help perform his larger works. All but one of the new company’s dancers come from the Frankfurt Ballet.?
–It wouldn?t be a Robert Gottlieb review if it weren?t provocative. In a recent NY Observer, he takes some memorable shots at easy if likely deserving targets:
?Pittsburgh?s third offering was Derek Deane?s Hungry Heart ? ?We all have one?!! to?yes, you guessed it?songs by Bruce Springsteen. This too lacked original dance moments, but at least it looked good in its cocktail-lounge setting, involved a group of identifiable characters and had some shape to it. But it?s time to get the word out to provincial companies that choreographing to rock music isn?t a sure bet in the Big Apple, even though it may be cutting edge back home.
. . . Large talent, of course, can?t be legislated into existence, and it?s not the fault of the Rhodens and O?Days and Kudelkas and Greenbergs that they don?t have it. But let?s not be deceived by the culture?s machinery of publicity and self-promotion or by our ardent longing for the real thing. That we have so few first-rate choreographers today is a sad fact; better to accept it than to lie to ourselves.?
Both via Arts Journal.
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