Simone Forti
Encyclopedia
Simone Forti a postmodern American choreographer and musician
, was born in Italy but moved to the United States at a young age. Throughout her career she became known for a style of dancing and choreography that was largely based on basic everyday movements, such as games and children's playground activities, and improvisation
. She danced with many well known choreographers representing various styles of dance. Some of these include Anna Halprin
, Merce Cunningham
, Martha Graham
, and Robert Whitman
. In addition to dancing, she has written a book, multiple articles and won several awards. Musically she collaborated with avante-garde composers and performers including La Monte Young
, Richard Maxfield
, Terry Riley
, and Yoko Ono
.
. However, she then dropped out and moved with her husband, Robert Morris, to San Francisco in 1956 where she trained with Anna Halprin. Although she started dancing at the late age of 21, she found a niche there and continued to dance with Halprin and the “Dancer’s Workshop.” In 1959 she moved to New York with Morris and began to study with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. However, neither of these styles matched her interests. During this time, she taught at a nursery school
where she developed a fascination with the movement of children. In the fall of 1960, she joined a Cunningham studio composition class led by Robert Dunn which was geared towards exploration and improvisation. At this point, she began to create her own independent choreography. That Christmas Robert Whitman invited her to perform at the Reuben Gallery where she presented Rollers and See-Saw. She then created Huddle which is now said to be a ”seminal work and an ancestor to the improvisation genre of the 70’s known for naturalness and inevitability of her movement patterns and own performance style.”
From 1962 to 1966 Forti was married to Robert Whitman and collaborated with him on his happenings. Some of these include Hole, Flower, Night Time sky, water, prune/flat. During this time she created no independent choreography. Once divorced, she began to create her own choreography again but with a focus on sound rather than movement.
In 1968, she performed in Rome and began to study animal movements. This resulted in her working in Turin
with experimental theatre
group, “The Zoo.” After attending the “Festival of Music, Dance, Explosions, and Flight” and touring with Woodstock for a year starting in the summer of 1969, she returned to New York and studied singing with Pandit Pran Nath. Eventually she returned to California “where she occasionally substituted for Allen Kaprow at the California Institute of the Arts
, leading open dance sessions called “Open Gardenia.” In 1974 her book, Handbook in Motion, was published. Over the years she has taught and performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Austria, and Venezuela.
in New York and at Yoko Ono’s loft where the audience was able to walk around the dancers who were still enough to resemble sculpture. This innovative use of space allowed her work to be viewed as art, not just dance. Many times she would create choreography where the dancer was manipulated from an outside source instead of creating the movement themselves. This “chance choreography” fits a common procedure associated with post modern choreographers like herself. Some of her greatest influences came from observations of children and animals because of her objection to the “isolated, fragmented, and artificial movements ” in many formal techniques of the day. Like other post modern choreographers she incorporated the themes of chance procedure, rules/games, improvisation, speaking/singing, and scores.
1961
1967
1969
1971
1974
1975
1976
1978
1979
1981
1989
1991
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, was born in Italy but moved to the United States at a young age. Throughout her career she became known for a style of dancing and choreography that was largely based on basic everyday movements, such as games and children's playground activities, and improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
. She danced with many well known choreographers representing various styles of dance. Some of these include Anna Halprin
Anna Halprin
Anna Halprin helped pioneer the experimental art form known as postmodern dance and referred to herself as the breaker of modern dance. Halprin, along with her contemporaries such as Trisha Brown, Simone Forti, Yvonne Rainer, John Cage, and Robert Morris, collaborated and built a community based...
, Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...
, Martha Graham
Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
, and Robert Whitman
Robert Whitman
Robert Whitman is an American artist best known for his seminal theater pieces of the early 1960s combining visual and sound images, actors, film, slides, and evocative props in environments of his own making...
. In addition to dancing, she has written a book, multiple articles and won several awards. Musically she collaborated with avante-garde composers and performers including La Monte Young
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
, Richard Maxfield
Richard Maxfield
Richard Maxfield was a composer of instrumental, electro-acoustic, and electronic music.Born in Seattle, he most likely taught the first University-level course in electronic music in America at the New School for Social Research...
, Terry Riley
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
, and Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
.
Background and Career
Forti was born in Florence, Italy in 1935. Soon after, in the early 1940s, her Jewish family escaped to the United States. She grew up in Los Angeles then attended Reed CollegeReed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
. However, she then dropped out and moved with her husband, Robert Morris, to San Francisco in 1956 where she trained with Anna Halprin. Although she started dancing at the late age of 21, she found a niche there and continued to dance with Halprin and the “Dancer’s Workshop.” In 1959 she moved to New York with Morris and began to study with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. However, neither of these styles matched her interests. During this time, she taught at a nursery school
Nursery school
A nursery school is a school for children between the ages of one and five years, staffed by suitably qualified and other professionals who encourage and supervise educational play rather than simply providing childcare...
where she developed a fascination with the movement of children. In the fall of 1960, she joined a Cunningham studio composition class led by Robert Dunn which was geared towards exploration and improvisation. At this point, she began to create her own independent choreography. That Christmas Robert Whitman invited her to perform at the Reuben Gallery where she presented Rollers and See-Saw. She then created Huddle which is now said to be a ”seminal work and an ancestor to the improvisation genre of the 70’s known for naturalness and inevitability of her movement patterns and own performance style.”
From 1962 to 1966 Forti was married to Robert Whitman and collaborated with him on his happenings. Some of these include Hole, Flower, Night Time sky, water, prune/flat. During this time she created no independent choreography. Once divorced, she began to create her own choreography again but with a focus on sound rather than movement.
In 1968, she performed in Rome and began to study animal movements. This resulted in her working in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
with experimental theatre
Experimental theatre
Experimental theatre is a general term for various movements in Western theatre that began in the late 19th century as a retraction against the dominant vent governing the writing and production of dramatical menstrophy, and age in particular. The term has shifted over time as the mainstream...
group, “The Zoo.” After attending the “Festival of Music, Dance, Explosions, and Flight” and touring with Woodstock for a year starting in the summer of 1969, she returned to New York and studied singing with Pandit Pran Nath. Eventually she returned to California “where she occasionally substituted for Allen Kaprow at the California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
, leading open dance sessions called “Open Gardenia.” In 1974 her book, Handbook in Motion, was published. Over the years she has taught and performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Austria, and Venezuela.
Individual style
Forti’s style of dance comes from an emphasis on the body as a means of self expression. Her movement explores natural and sometimes day to day or pedestrian movements. Forti presented some of her earliest works in art galleriesArt gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
in New York and at Yoko Ono’s loft where the audience was able to walk around the dancers who were still enough to resemble sculpture. This innovative use of space allowed her work to be viewed as art, not just dance. Many times she would create choreography where the dancer was manipulated from an outside source instead of creating the movement themselves. This “chance choreography” fits a common procedure associated with post modern choreographers like herself. Some of her greatest influences came from observations of children and animals because of her objection to the “isolated, fragmented, and artificial movements ” in many formal techniques of the day. Like other post modern choreographers she incorporated the themes of chance procedure, rules/games, improvisation, speaking/singing, and scores.
Choreography Specifics
Forti was interested in “the simple presymbolic games of children, as well as the activities of animals and plants” to “provide her with movement material that when performed on the adult body makes it a “defamiliarized” object.” See-Saw and Rollers are both examples of this. In Rollers the dancers sat in shallow wooden boxes on wheels attached to three cords that were then pulled by spectators. The result of dances like this differed greatly from performance to performance because of the nature of the choreography. Another postmodern characteristic is seen in Huddle because of the improvisation necessary for the piece. In this dance, a group of dancers huddles in closely while one dancer climbs over the group to the other side in no preordained fashion. There is also no order in which the dancers go, therefore, it is based on the feeling of the group as a whole. As the dancer moves out to go, the remaining group must be cognizant and feel the difference then move in to allow the dancer to climb over. Not all of her pieces were focused on dance, in Accompaniment for La Monte’s “2 sounds”, the emphasis is primarily on the music. The only movement comes the winding and unwinding of a dancer standing in a large loop suspended from the ceiling. The “dancing” stops long before the music.Awards and achievements
- 1995- Dance Theater Workshop’s New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for sustained achievement
- 2004- Lester Horton Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Dance Recourse Center of Los Angeles
- 2006- Guggenheim Fellowship
Books and Articles by Forti
- "Theater and Engineering-An Experiment," Artforum 5, February 1967.
- Handbook in Motion, Halifax, Nova Scotia: Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and New York: New York University, 1974.
- "Dancing at the Fence," Avalanche, December 1974.
- "Bicycles," Dance Scope, Fall 1978.
List of works
1960- See-Saw
- Rollers
1961
- Slant Board
- Huddle
- Hangers
- Platforms
- Accompaniment for La Monte's "2 Sound"...
- From Instructions
- Censor
- Herding
1967
- Face Tunes
- Cloths
- Elevation Tune No. 2
- Song
1969
- Book
- Bottom
- Fallers
- Sleepwalkers
- Throat Dance
1971
- Buzzing
- Illuminations; performed with Charlemagne Palestine
1974
- The Zero
- Crawling
1975
- Big Room
- Red Green
1976
- Planet
1978
- Fan Dance
1979
- Estuary
- Home Base
1981
- Jackdaw Songs
1989
- Touch
1991
- Animations
- Collaboration
- To Be Continued
- Still Life
External links
- Simone Forti in the Video Data Bank.