Kidd Pivot facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Kidd Pivot |
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Kidd Pivot dancers Jermaine Spivey, Peter Chu, Anne Plamondon, Yannick Matthon, and choreographer Crystal Pite filming Lost Action: Trace in 2010
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| General information | |
| Name | Kidd Pivot |
| Previous names | Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM |
| Year founded | 2002 |
| Location | Vancouver, BC |
| Senior staff | |
| Director | Crystal Pite |
| Assistant Director | Eric Beauchesne |
Kidd Pivot is a super cool dance company from Vancouver, Canada! It was started in 2002 by the amazing dancer and director Crystal Pite. This company performs modern dance shows all over the world. They have eight full-time dancers and sometimes special guest artists too. Kidd Pivot is known for its creative and award-winning performances! From 2010 to 2012, the company was known as Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM.
Contents
Starting the Dance Journey
Kidd Pivot was created in 2002 by Canadian dancer and choreographer, Crystal Pite. Their very first big show was called Uncollected Work (2003). In this show, Crystal Pite and another dancer, Cori Caulfield, performed two parts.
One part, Farther Out, explored exciting ideas like science fiction. It looked at the thrill of new possibilities and unknown places. The second part, Field: Fiction, was about how artists create and sometimes change their own work. Crystal Pite was inspired by a book called The Writing Life for this piece.
Creative Partnerships
The company's next show was Double Story (2004). Crystal Pite worked with Richard Siegal on this one. It used interesting things like text, puppets, and funny masks. This was a hint at how puppets would appear in Crystal Pite's later shows.
Double Story explored how two people in a relationship see things differently. The first part was a duet by Siegal called The Bouncy Woman Piece. Then, Crystal Pite created Man Asunder as her response. They even used big mirrors on stage to show different views. The dancers would drink water and talk casually, making it feel very real.
Lost Action: A Big Step
In 2006, Kidd Pivot won a big award called the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award. This award helped them create the show Lost Action. Seven dancers, including Crystal Pite, performed this piece. It explored important themes like war, love, and loss.
Critics loved Lost Action. One reviewer said it was a "major work of art." When Kidd Pivot performed it in London, a critic from The Guardian said Crystal Pite was amazing at making bodies move. She also had a special talent for showing deep feelings. Another reviewer called it "the revelation of the year." In 2011, a short film called Trace was made based on Lost Action.
Dark Matters: Mysterious and Magical
Dark Matters first showed in 2009 in Ottawa. It later came to Vancouver during the 2010 Cultural Olympiad. People described Dark Matters as "sinister magic." It featured tall shadows, scary puppets, and figures wearing hoods.
Crystal Pite was inspired by the mystery of dark matter in space. She thought about how these unseen forces affect our bodies and minds. She also said the show was about "loneliness, obsession, and the danger of creation."
The Puppet's Tale
In the show, dancer Peter Chu plays a puppet maker. He builds a puppet that starts to move on its own. Other dancers, hidden as hooded figures, control the puppet. Eventually, the puppet destroys its maker. This part makes you think about how what artists create can sometimes take over their lives.
Halfway through the show, the hooded figures tear apart the stage set. This makes way for the second part, which is more about pure movement. At the end, Crystal Pite herself is revealed as the puppet master. The show makes the audience think about free will and how much power we have over our own lives. Some of the words used in the first part come from Voltaire's Poem on the Lisbon Disaster.
Working in Frankfurt
In 2010, Kidd Pivot started working closely with a theatre in Frankfurt, Germany, called Künstlerhaus Mousonturm. Because of this support, the company changed its public name to Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM. They spent a lot of time creating new shows in Frankfurt.
During this time, they created The You Show (2010) and The Tempest Replica (2011). Their partnership with the theatre lasted for three years, ending in 2013.
The You Show: Relationships on Stage
The You Show explored different kinds of problems that can happen between two people. It was divided into four duet sections.
- A Picture of You Falling was performed by Peter Chu and Anne Plamondon. A voice-over described past problems and simple actions the dancers performed.
- The Other You featured Eric Beauchesne and Jiri Pokorny. They looked very similar, wearing matching suits and moving in strong, direct ways.
- Das Glashaus was danced by Cindy Salgado and Yannick Matthon. It had music made from broken glass, created by Owen Belton.
- A Picture of You Flying was a funny part. Jermaine Spivey and Sandra Marin Garcia played superheroes with everyday relationship problems. This section added humor to the more serious parts.
The You Show first premiered in Frankfurt and then toured around the world.
The Tempest Replica: Shakespeare Reimagined
Crystal Pite first thought about using film noir for The Tempest Replica. But she felt it didn't have enough human emotion. So, she decided to base the show on William Shakespeare's famous play, The Tempest.
She used Shakespeare's characters and setting to tell the story of a shipwreck through dance. At the start, Prospero (played by Eric Beauchesne) wears regular clothes. Other dancers wear grey and big masks, moving like robots controlled by Prospero. Later, Prospero dances with others in the second half.
Scene numbers and lines from Shakespeare's play were projected on stage. This created a play-within-a-play effect. Crystal Pite shared that creating this piece was very challenging for her. After its first showing, she knew it needed more work. When she became an artistic associate with Sadler's Wells theatre in 2013, she got the chance to improve it. The new version premiered in 2014 and won an Olivier Award in 2015!
Working with Jonathon Young
At the 2015 Pan American Games, Kidd Pivot showed Betroffenheit. This was their first time working with Canadian actor Jonathon Young. He is also a director for another theatre group.
The story of Betroffenheit is based on a very sad real-life event Jonathon Young experienced. The word Betroffenheit is German and means something like "shocked, speechless, traumatized."
Betroffenheit: A Journey Through Grief
The show has two acts. In the first act, Jonathon Young is stuck in a room that looks like his own mind. He hears his own recorded voice repeating short phrases like "What happened." These phrases show his inner thoughts and feelings after a disaster.
Dancers represent distractions and inner struggles. They play characters like showgirls and tap-dancing clowns, performing a Vegas-style show just for Young. Then, the set is torn apart for the powerful second act. This show uses dance, acting, and music to explore themes of loss, addiction, and grief. It ends with a message of hope for healing and remembering those who are gone.
Betroffenheit won many awards, including the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production in 2017. Jonathon Young also won an award for his amazing performance.
Revisor: A New Collaboration
Kidd Pivot's newest show, Revisor, premiered in 2019 in Vancouver, British Columbia. This was their second time working with Jonathon Young. Revisor features eight dancers and uses recorded voices from Canadian actors to tell its story. It is inspired by a book called The Inspector General, written by Nikolai Gogol in 1836.
1Day for the Climate Initiative
Kidd Pivot started the 1Day for the Climate initiative in 2015. The company and its dancers travel a lot around the world. They wanted to do something about the carbon footprint their touring creates.
So, every year, all Kidd Pivot employees and collaborators donate one day's salary. The company then matches this amount. The total money is given to projects that help reduce carbon in the atmosphere. Kidd Pivot is the only dance company in the world that tours in a way that balances out its carbon emissions! Since 2015, they have helped offset over 400 tonnes of CO2e. This initiative supports projects that help with climate change, like 350.org, The Sierra Club BC, and the David Suzuki Foundation.
Kidd Pivot Works
- Revisor (2019)
- Betroffenheit (2015)
- The Tempest Replica (2011)
- The You Show (2010)
- Dark Matters (2009)
- Lost Action (2006)
- Double Story (2004)
- Uncollected Works (2003)
Awards
- 2004: Paul D. Fleck Fellowship from The Banff Centre – Crystal Pite for choreographic development with Kidd Pivot
- 2004: Bonnie Bird North American New Choreography Award – Crystal Pite
- 2005: Isadora Award for Choreography – Crystal Pite for Kidd Pivot
- 2006: Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award
- 2006: Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for outstanding choreography
- 2008: Governor General of Canada's Performing Arts Award, Mentorship Program – Crystal Pite
- 2011: Jacob's Pillow Dance Award – Crystal Pite for Kidd Pivot
- 2012: Lola Award – Crystal Pite
- 2012: Canada Council for the Arts' Jacqueline Lemieux Prize – Crystal Pite
- 2012: Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production (Dark Matters)
- 2015: Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance (The Associates – A Picture of You Falling, The Tempest Replica and Polaris at Sadler's Wells)
- 2016: Georgia Straight Critic's Choice Innovation Award at The Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards (Betroffenheit)
- 2016: Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production (Betroffenheit)
- 2017: Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production (Betroffenheit, Sadler's Wells)
- 2018: Dance Magazine Award Honouree – Crystal Pite
- 2018: Grand Prix de la Danse de Montreal Laureate 2018 (Betroffenheit, Festival TransAmériques)
- 2019: Chrystal Dance Prize (Revisor, Dance Victoria)
