Forsythe specialist Amy Raymond joins the regular teaching staff of the National Ballet Academy

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Amy Raymond, former soloist with Dutch National Ballet and Ballett Frankfurt, joined the regular teaching staff of National Ballet Academy at the start of this season. For more than ten years, she has been staging William Forsythe’s ballets all over the world, and in recent years has been working with budo master Akira Hino on integrating his martial arts method into classical ballet.

Raymond bases her classes for the Bachelor and Trainee students on the Forsythe improvisation technique, combining it with the method she has developed in conjunction with Hino.

Amy Raymond is no stranger to the National Ballet Academy. In recent years, she has worked several times with students on William Forsythe’s technique and ballets, and last year she also introduced them to the approach of Japanese budo master Akira Hino, which advocates a more efficient and natural use of the body.

Raymond is very happy about her appointment. ‘It gives me a much better opportunity to gain insight into the students and their potential. Before, I used to see them for a few classes or during a workshop, but now I get to work with them for a large part of the week’.
‘My classes are based on the Forsythe improvisation technique, but by combining it with elements of the budo method I hope to create a deeper physical awareness in the students. I also want to broaden their ideas about how to approach a choreographic work. For example, we’ll be deconstructing works and using the elements we discover as the basis for improvisation. I hope this will further stimulate their creativity’.
According to Raymond, the students are both terrified and excited about her appointment. She laughs, ‘But I mean ‘terrified’ in the best sense of the word. I ask them to do things that are out of their comfort zone. It may be frightening, but it’s also very challenging!’

Since ending her dancing career ten years ago, Amy Raymond has been working as a freelance choreographer and teacher of ballet and improvisation, alongside rehearsing William Forsythe’s works with companies all over the world, including Ballet de l’Opéra National de Paris, Ballet National de Marseille, Cullberg Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet and our ‘own’ Dutch National Ballet. She has also been studying for ten years with budo master Akira Hino, and has integrated his unique knowledge of the body into all aspects of her work.


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