WILLIAM FORSYTHE TO RECEIVE GOLDEN LION FOR DANCE

William Forsythe will receive a Golden Lion for his life’s work as a choreographer from the dance section of the Venice Biennale. The award will be presented during the seventh edition of the International Festival of Contemporary Dance (May 26–June 12). Prior dance awards have gone to Merce Cunningham (2005), Carolyn Carlson (2006), Pina Bausch (2007), and Jirí Kylián (2008). Forsythe was born December 30, 1949 in New York; he was the director of the Frankfurt Ballet from 1984–2004, and since 2005 has been the director of The Forsythe Company. The commission presenting the award called Forsythe a “total artist who has revolutionized the world of dance regenerating classical language, of which he has reconstructed and deconstructed the forms from within.” Forsythe also participated in last year’s International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, under the directorship of Daniel Birnbaum, for which he contributed the installation The Fact of Matter/Choreographic Object.