Directors, ballet masters, stage directors, choreographers, architects, ... Octave discovers the personalities that have marked the history of the Opera which continues to attract the great names of music and dance.
William Forsythe was born in New York in 1949 and first studied dance in Florida, then at the Joffrey Ballet and finally with the Stuttgart Ballet. In 1984, he began a twenty-year tenure at the head of the Frankfurt Ballet and then led the Forsythe Company from 2005 to 2015. A prolific choreographer, his works have pride of place in the repertoires of the principal international ballet companies including the Paris Opera. After France/Dance in 1983, he created In the Middle Somewhat Elevated (1987) for the Company—a true manifesto for the contemporary reinterpretation of the classical codes. Since then, numerous works have come to enrich the repertoire: Pas/Parts (1999), The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude (1999), Artifact Suite (2006) and Approximate Sonata (new version, 2016). As resident choreographer at the Paris Opera during the 2015-2016 season, William Forsythe created Blake Works (2016) in collaboration with the rising star of British electro music, James Blake. He also brought Of Any if And (2016) into the repertoire.