Richard Siegal

The work of dancer and choreographer Richard Siegal [USA/F] focuses on the interdisciplinary exploration of new forms of contemporary dance. Prior to 1997, Siegal danced in the companies of Doug Elkins, Zvi Gotheiner, Janis Brenner, Robin Staff, Muna Tseng, Sin Cha Hong, and Mark Dendy, and from 1997-2004, he danced with William Forsythe's Ballett Frankfurt. In 2002, he founded »The Bakery«, an organization dedicated to the exploration and production of contemporary performance. In 2004, Siegal started working with rules and models used in computer sciences to structure choreographies resp. the interaction of dancers on stage. This resulted in the development of a special choreographic system, the »If/Then« methodology, which has met with great international interest: For choreographies, certain actions and rules are defined, which form the so-called »games«. These units are interconnected at predefined points so as to allow the actors to move from one game to another. For the design, visualization and notation of these decision-making processes, tree structures are used.

Siegal’s works are selected for renowned festivals and developed and presented at international theaters and cultural institutions, such the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [J], the PACT Zollverein, Essen [D], the Dance Space Project, New York [USA] or the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt/ M. [D].