William Forsythe

William Forsythe (born December 30, 1949 in New York City) is an American dancer and choreographer resident in Frankfurt am Main in Hessen. He is known internationally for his work with the Ballett Frankfurt (1984-2004) and The Forsythe Company (2005 - present). His early dance works are acknowledged for reorienting the practice of ballet from its identification with classical repertoire to a dynamic 21st-century art form, while his more recent works have further extended his research on the performative potentials of dance and his investigation of choreography as a fundamental principle of organization.
Forsythe, born in Manhasset, Long Island, in 1949, was a great fan of Fred Astaire in in his youth. He danced in high school and socially, choreographing for musicals and winning contests in the "mashed potato." He received his first formal dance training at Jacksonville University, Florida, where he studied classical ballet and modern dance. He credits his early teachers in Florida as especially influential: Nolan Dingman, an early company member under George Balanchine, Christa Long, who told him that he was a choreographer, and a Mme. Boscovich, whom he claims first taught him