Theatre Award DER FAUST

William Forsythe was awarded the German Theatre Prize DER FAUST in the category "choreography" for Blake Works V (The Barre Project). In 2020, Forsythe was honored with the FAUST Theater Award in recognition of his lifetime achievements. He completed his internationally acclaimed cycle of works—begun in 2016 at the Paris Opera—with Blake Works V, which premiered in 2023 at La Scala in Milan and brought together choreographic elements from across the cycle. The work received its German premiere in December 2024, presented by the Hamburg Ballet as part of the mixed bill SLOW BURN. Executive Managing Director Nicolas Hartmann accepted the award on behalf of William Forsythe. 

"The award to William Forsythe for Blake Works V (The Barre Project) with the Hamburg Ballet is a great honor and joy for us. William Forsythe is one of the most influential artists of our time, and working with him and his team was an inspiring experience for our company. The award also recognizes the dedication and virtuosity of our dancers, who bring this choreography to life."

- Nicolas Hartmann, Executive Managing Director and Lloyd Riggins, Artistic Director

Jury Statement: 

"With Blake Works V (The Barre Project), William Forsythe has created a choreographic reflection of great clarity and depth. Created during a period of isolation, he elevates the ballet barre – a symbol of daily training and solitude – to a choreographic idea and a dance counterpart. Restriction becomes a space of possibility, limitation a field of infinite invention. 

The piece is a brilliant play with the forms of classical dance that neither negates tradition nor romanticises it nostalgically, but keeps it alive through transformation. Here, four decades of choreographic mastery combine to form an essence of movement and thought. Danced with great brilliance, formal rigour and at the same time touching freedom, this work marks a moment of extraordinary artistic consistency. 

With Blake Works V (The Barre Project), the Hamburg Ballett marks its leadership transition by performing a Forsythe work for the first time in its history – a new beginning and a commitment at the same time: a contemporary statement that does not leave classical dance behind, but catapults it into the future. Forsythe proves that tradition only remains alive if it changes – courageously, relevantly and in tune with the pulse of the present."

The whole ceremony is available for streaming on the 3sat center.