Forsythe Repertory
Based Technologies and Performance Technique with Francesca Harper

Come join International dancer / choreographer Francesca Harper, the Artistic Director of Francesca Harper Project.
Francesca was a Principal Dancer with the Frankfurt Ballet under the direction of William Forsythe for almost a decade and was one of the original cast members of Forsythe's "Self Meant to Govern," which incorporated all of Forsythe's Improvisation technologies. She has set Forsythe's work and her Company has had the honor of performing Forsythe's work as well.
Francesca found Forsythe technologies opened her mind incredibly as an artist and ultimately changed the trajectory of her artistic experience.

Francesca has conducted Forsythe - Based workshops around the world. This particular workshop will start with a ballet barre, will introduce Forsythe technologies, and then lead into a daily structured improvisation. After the improvisation the students will learn Forsythe repertoire from Francesca and receive feedback on performance details.

This workshop will leave the student with a sense of ownership of their artistry, and a deeper understanding of their own personal expression as not only a performer but as a human being.

Please bring pointe shoes
Pointe shoes are not required but encouraged.



Voice & Movement
creation with songs

Francesca Harper, Forsythe dancer, director, and Broadway star will teach students how to mesh their vocal ability to their individual artistry.
Each participant will choose songs and / or their own written texts and create their own unique dance / theater works. Each day Francesca will conduct vocal exercises, improvisation exercises, and guide the students to create their own work.
There will be a showing at the end of the workshop so students can share their final works with each other and to the other artists at ImPulsTanz.




Francesca Harper
A statuesque beauty who is a dancer-actor-singer- recording artist-choreographer-director has graced the stage appearing with Dance Theater of Harlem, Frankfurt Ballet, Ms. Harper approaches ballet technique with keen sensibility to the magic of performance beyond technical steps. In her workshops she supports improvisation, movement development, diligence and self–motivation. After performing with the Dance Theater of Harlem, she danced as a principal in William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt from 1994-1999. Since returning to the States in 2000, Harper has performed in several Broadway productions including "Fosse", "The Producers", "The Frogs", and "The Color Purple". She played the role of Helene opposite Molly Ringwald in a national tour of "Sweet Charity", and the role of Judith originated by Judith Jamison in a revival of "Sophisticated Ladies". Harper’s choreographic career began while still in Germany, where she choreographed a full evening work for the Holland Dance Festival. She has since choreographed works for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Tanz Graz, and her own company The Francesca Harper Project, which has become the platform for her own artistic vision: classical dance forms deconstructed and fused with cutting-edge text, music, film and video.

She premiered her critically-acclaimed one-woman show "The Fragile Stone Theory" at the 2002 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Francesca’s latest commissioned work, "Documotion : ONE – Rave", was requested to be performed at the 50th Anniversary of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center at World Famous Apollo Theater by Judith Jamison. TheFrancesca Harper Project season highlights include performances at Harlem Stage, Bloomberg Culture Series, Central Park Summerstage and Venice Biennale.

Most recently, Francesca was appointed as an Adjunct Professor at New York University, a teacher for The Ailey School and the Fordham BFA Program, and a teacher and choreographer Tony Award Director Susan Batson at the Susan Batson Studio. Francesca also enjoyed working as a ballet consultant for the feature film, "Black Swan," by Darren Aronofsky, starring Natalie Portman, who went on to win an Oscar. Please visit www.francescaharper.com for more infomation.