✦ Origins ✦
William Forsythe created In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated in 1987 for the Paris Opera Ballet, at the invitation of then-director Rudolf Nureyev, who was actively bringing contemporary choreographers into the company's repertory. It was set to a driving electronic score by longtime Forsythe collaborator Thom Willems, and staged beneath two oversized cherries suspended above the dancers — an image that has become inseparable from the work's identity.
The piece was made on dancers trained entirely in classical technique, and that tension is central to its impact: pointe shoes and textbook-perfect turnout are still present, but deployed inside phrasing that twists off the vertical axis, accelerates unpredictably against the music, and treats hyperextension as a starting point rather than a peak to reach for.
What Makes It Distinct
Unlike narrative ballet, the piece has no story and minimal set beyond the cherries and stark lighting; its content is the dancing itself, and specifically the friction between classical training and Forsythe's deconstruction of it. Dancers perform in practice clothes rather than costumes built for character, keeping focus on the body's shapes and the score's relentless pulse rather than any narrative frame.
Because it was built directly from classical vocabulary rather than from an entirely separate technique, the work has proven unusually portable — able to be staged convincingly by ballet companies with no other connection to Forsythe's own artistic lineage.
Legacy
In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated has since entered the repertory of major ballet companies around the world, including the Royal Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and its originating company, the Paris Opera Ballet. Its continued popularity is a large part of why Forsythe's influence is felt today even by audiences who have never seen his own company perform — his choreography has simply become part of the standard contemporary ballet repertory.
Its status as a repertory staple also makes it one of the most accessible entry points on this site for seeing Forsythe's ideas firsthand: unlike works tied to a single company or era, it is likely to be programmed by a major ballet company somewhere in the world in any given season.
See Also
Read the full profile of choreographer William Forsythe.