Who Do You Think You Are: Lineage

Although as a child, William Forsythe adored Fred Astaire, his most significant influence came from George Balanchine. While he studied at Jacksonville University, he trained under Nolan Dingman who was an early company member of Balanchine's, sparking Forsythe's interest in the form and style. Until he developed his own style, he mimicked Balanchine's choreography using ideas such as the torsion of the body. Soon he learned that he wanted to draw from his own cultural influences and his past to personalize his works to reflect himself rather than Balanchine.

After moving to Germany, he began creating his own works with the Frankfurt Ballet after creating the controversial piece Gänge, subtitled "A piece about ballet." He continued with the Frankfurt Ballet until 2004, when they performed for the last time, and he moved on to creating the Forsythe Company.

In his own works, he incorporated many mathematically based ideas to form his movements as well as music and architecture. To give what he felt was an acoustic space to dance, he worked with the Dutch composer Thom Willems, valuing the hard percussive sounds present through the music. He also drew influences from Italian artist Tiepolo (whose work can be seen in the image above), architecture, sculptures, and American rock and roll.