A Quiet Evening of Dance

Friday 8 February

After performance talk with dancers: Cyril Baldy, Brigel Gjoka, Jill Johnson, Christopher Roman, Parvaneh Scharafali, Riley Watts, Rauf ‘RubberLegz’ Yasit

Chaired by Tassos Koukoutas, Dance Theorist

William Forsythe has been choreographing for 45 years now. He has redefined ballet, transforming it from an art-form obsessed with repertoire into a dynamic, creative art free of all limitations. He is considered the most important choreographer of his generation.

The evening’s seven dancers are among Forsythe’s closest and most trusted associates. Ideal performers, they can provide us with a profound, insider perspective on the physical work of ballet and shed light on Forsythe's life's work.

The program is an international Onassis Stegi co-production.

“Catalogue” was created for two ex-Forsythe dancers, Jill Johnson and Christopher Roman, who created their own company, the DANCE ON ENSEMBLE. Forsythe describes the project as "complex, almost Baroque". In this updated version, it becomes a trio with the addition of the talented Brit Rodemund, who is collaborating with Forsythe for the first time.

“DUO2015” was originally created in 1996 for two dancers who would only use the front part of the stage. Today, it is danced by two male dancers.

The new version was premièred in 2015 and was subsequently included by Sylvie Guillem in her farewell programme. Guillem collaborated with Forsythe at a historic moment of his career on “In the middle somewhat elevated”, which he created in 1987 for the Paris Opera Ballet, then under the direction of Rudolf Nureyev. With its electrifying atmosphere and eccentric equilibria, its pulse and constantly shifting relationships, the choreography would change the course of dance forever and turn both the choreographer and his dancers (Sylvie Guillem, Laurent Hilaire, Isabelle Guérin and Manuel Legris) into instantly-recognizable stars.