A Conversation on the Aesthetics of Improvisation and Some Other Things

Simone Forti; Rossella Mazzaglia

doi:10.6092/issn.2036-1599/5959

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Simone Forti

Simone Forti is a dancer and choreographer. From 1955 to 1959 she worked with Anna Halprin in California, before moving to New York. There, she attended Robert Dunn’s composition workshop and performed in various happenings with Robert Whitman, Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg and Allan Kaprow. In 1961 she presented Five Constructions and Some Other Things in a New York loft. The minimalist approach of these first works complemented the continuing explorations in improvisation, which were directed towards the study of animal movement, of improvisations derived from news and other inputs, such as the environment and landscape (as in the News Animations and Animations). Since the Eighties, she has experimented with the relationship between telling and moving through the project Logomotion. In 1986 she founded the Simone Forti & Troupe group, which lasted 6 years. Over time, she has mostly performed solo works with musicians such as Charlemagne Palestine or Peter Van Riper.
She has received several awards and grants from American Institutions as the Guggenheim Foundation and, in 2011, the Yoko Ohno Lennon Award for Courage in the Arts. She is a pivotal presence in American postmodern dance.
Rossella Mazzaglia Università di Messina
Rossella Mazzaglia (PhD) is a senior researcher at the University of Messina. She previously taught at the University of Bologna. Among her numerous publications are the books: Virgilio Sieni. Archeologia di un pensiero coreografico (Editoria & Spettacolo, 2015), Danza e Spazio. Le metamorfosi dell’esperienza artistica contemporanea (Mucchi Editore, 2012), Judson Dance Theater: Danza e controcultura nell’America degli anni Sessanta (Ephemeria, 2010); with Adriana Polveroni, Trisha Brown. L’invenzione dello spazio/Trisha Brown. The Invention of Space (Gli Ori, 2010); Trisha Brown (L’Epos, 2007).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2036-1599/5959

Abstract

A personal and artistic recount, Simone Forti’s conversation with Rossella Mazzaglia deals with her training with Anna Halprin, with the motivations that brought her to New York in 1959, as well as with her first creations and collaborations with the happening, music and visual art scenes. It illustrates an idea of structured improvisation, which stayed with Forti over time and that was also used by other postmodern choreographers in the early Sixties.

This interview represents a primary source concerning Simone Forti and the artistic environment in New York. Forti’s words on the kinesthetic affinities among works from different genres and arts are also a tool to further analysis from a “trans-disciplinary” standpoint.

The interview is published in English. It is followed by a comment by Rossella Mazzaglia in Italian.

A Conversation on the Aesthetics of Improvisation and Some Other Things

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