William Forsythe (dancer) - Dance Education

Dance Education

In 1994, Forsythe authored a pioneering and award-winning computer application Improvisation Technologies: A Tool for the Analytical Dance Eye which is used by professional companies, dance conservatories, universities, postgraduate architecture programs and secondary schools. 2009 marked the launch of Synchronous Objects for One Flat Thing,reproduced, an interactive web project developed in collaboration with The Ohio State University which offers extensive interdisciplinary insight into the complex structures of choreographic thinking. Motion Bank, a new four-year project of The Forsythe Company, launched in late 2010. Providing a broad context for research into choreographic practice, the project's main focus is on the creation and publication of on-line digital scores in collaboration with guest choreographers.

As an educator, Forsythe is regularly invited to lecture and give workshops at major universities and cultural institutions internationally. He currently co-directs and teaches in the Dance Apprentice Network Across Europe (D.A.N.C.E.) program. Forsythe has been awarded an honorary fellowship from the Laban Centre in London and an honorary doctorate from the Juilliard School.

In 2002, Forsythe was invited to serve as the first Mentor in Dance in the inaugural cycle of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, an international philanthropic programme that pairs masters in their disciplines with emerging talents for a year of one-to-one creative exchange. Out of a very gifted field of candidates, Forsythe chose young Tibetant choreographer Sang Jijia as his protégé. Other dance mentors for the initiative include Saburo Teshigawara (2004), Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker (2006), Jirí Kylián (2008), Trisha Brown (2010) and Lin Hwai-min (2012).