Ballet knows no limits

Deirdre Newman

William Forsythe has been elasticizing the boundaries of ballet for

20 years through his avant-garde choreography for Ballett Frankfurt

-- expanding the limits of classical ballet while integrating

traditional technique.

Forsythe, the director, will bring his ballet troupe to the Orange

County Performing Arts Center next weekend for the beginning of a

bittersweet tour. After this tour, the troupe will disband, although

Forsythe is establishing a new company in Germany.

The center’s organizers invited Ballett Frankfurt to perform with

the hopes of introducing ballet aficionados to an icon and his

innovative choreography, said Judith Morr, the center’s executive

vice president.

“[Ballett Frankfurt] and William Forsythe are acknowledged greats

in the world of dance,” Morr said. “Most of the large companies in

the world have Billy Forsythe’s works, and he really is a legend in

his own time.”

The performances in Segerstrom Hall will feature four of

Forsythe’s most notable works: “Duo,” “(N.N.N.N.),” “One Flat Thing,

Reproduced” and “The Room As It Was.”

The ballets are bold, provocative and not based on traditional

stories like “Swan Lake,” but on intangible concepts like memory and

time.

“There is usually no predetermined emotional initiative, like that

of a story, but our work has very much to do with an active state of

doing,” dancer Natalie Thomas said. “Each ‘scene’ has its own set of

rules and dynamics that inherently puts us in a certain mind space.”

For example, Thomas describes “The Room as it Was” as “a memory,

an improvisation inspired by the past.”

This was achieved by choreographing precise steps, but after this

was done, “it became more stimulating to perform it in a reflection

of its form rather than in its definitive form,” Thomas said. “Now,

we, the performers, have a constant physical dialogue that discusses

what it was and what it is now. The shared point is this concept of

relationship, to each other and to the past.”

Because the ballets don’t follow a typical story line, they

provide the dancers with more freedom, said dancer Demond Hart, who

is in “One Flat Thing, Reproduced.” This particular ballet is also

very physically demanding, Hart said.

“It’s almost aerobic,” Hart said. “At the same time, it’s such a

rush. It’s a very exciting piece. No one will be sleeping during this

one.”

Forsythe’s ability to think algorithmically and create

improvisational steps also gives dancers a sense of individuality,

Thomas said.

“The tools of these improvisations can range drastically,” she

said. “In addition to the physical ideas, the modalities can stem

from something psychological, behavioral or situational. And although

the prescription is specific, the goal is not. The structure is there

for your exploration.”

Ballett Frankfurt is different because Forsythe only uses soloists

-- no corps de ballet. The environment is also distinctive -- the

music sets the stage instead of the scenery. Forsythe employs the

acoustic talent of Dutch composer Thom Willems, who creates an

acoustic arena for the dancers to work within. The music reflects the

emotional dynamic and physicality of the ballets.

After Ballett Frankfurt disbands at the end of the tour, Forsythe

will focus on his new company, working with the states of Saxony and

Hesse, as well as the cities of Dresden and Frankfurt, which will

allow him to stage ballets in both western and eastern Germany.

The center’s website warns that the ballets contain “mature

content,” which is to let parents know that young children probably

won’t understand the sophisticated concepts depicted in the ballets,

Morr said. But that shouldn’t discourage others from coming to

experience the controversial, yet stimulating European perspective of

ballet, Morr added.

“I want people to come because it’s exciting and fresh and

different,” Morr said. “And this, for us, was a year of venturing out

of the traditional story ballets into what’s going on in the dance

world.”