Crystal Pite

Crystal Pite was born in Terrace, British Columbia on December 15, 1970. She has two younger brothers. Pite stated that she began choreographing when she was a toddler, creating choreography to a song called "My Little Red Wagon" at age 3. She grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, and choreographed the musical at her high school. In 1990 she created her first professional choreography with the company called Between the Bliss and Me. The success of this work allowed her to create additional pieces with Ballet BC, as well as choreography with Les Ballets Jazz De Montreal and Canada's Ballet Jörgen. In 1990, Pite danced in her first William Forsythe ballet, In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated which was her initial introduction to performing his work. ==Ballett Frankfurt and William Forsythe==

Pite was attracted to Forsythe's choreography and wild interpretation of ballet. In 1995, she auditioned for his dance company Ballett Frankfurt. Pite performed around the world with Ballett Frankfurt in EIDOS : TELOS, The Loss of Small Detail, and Endless House. Pite was also excited to develop choreography with Forsythe using his improvisational technologies and in 2000 created Excerpts from a Future Work. She was involved in the creation of Forsythe's educational film "William Forsythe: Improvisation Technologies: A Tool for the Analytical Dance Eye" as one of the four featured dancers. She retired from dancing when she was 40 after the birth of her son. ==Return to British Columbia and Kidd Pivot==

Pite returned to British Columbia in 2001 and took up residence in Vancouver. Later that year, she created a duet called Tales - New and Abridged with Cori Caulfield. In 2001, she was appointed to a three-year residency with Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal to choreograph new works. Her first show with the company, Short Works: 22, premiered that same year. In Lost Action, another work created for Kidd Pivot, Pite explored the theme of the disappearance of dance. The piece showcased a violent scene that left a man dead and then replayed this several times, each with variations. Lost Action had a simplistic costume design and a few props in order to enhance the performance. Most of the piece's budget was used to bring the cast of four men and three women to Vancouver to create the choreography. The dancing consisted of "fractured movement...exaggerated to make a dance of broken rhythms and twisted limbs." The piece blended classical contemporary and hip hop movements with immense control from the dancers. In 2011, the National Film Board of Canada recorded a section of this piece and released it as Lost Action: Trace. Her next work for Kidd Pivot was called Uncollected Work (2003) dancing in "Lone Epic" in 2007. The piece premiered the previous year. Pite choreographed a solo on Louise Lecavalier called Lone Epic in 2006. Lecavalier acted as a conductor of an orchestra while the stage was littered with music stands. As she danced she turned the music stands to reveal messages, including "What is she really thinking?" and "What do you really want, really, really, really?" Lecavalier then knocked over music stands with her dramatic movement. As the choreographer, Pite was commended for developing a dramatic story that depicts the physical breakdown of a conductor. ==Larger-scale works and international commissions==

In 2007 Pite created The Second Person for Netherlands Dans Theater I. Pite was inspired by Irish, Scottish and English folk songs. Her longtime composer Owen Belton used her inspiration to create unique music that complemented the storm cloud covered stage. The piece included 25 dancers who represent youth and the loss of innocence that comes with growing up. The dancers operated stick puppets while another puppet spoke into a microphone and a large wooden marionette performed as a member of the dance ensemble. The piece was included in NDT's 2009 tour of the United States. The puppet eventually turns on its creator and destroys him with scissors. After intermission all the kurokos except one remove their black clothing and turn into humans, still moving like puppets. The piece finishes with the creator from the first act cradling the last kuroko as the kuroko pretends to sew strings onto the creator's body. Also in 2009 Pite created Emergence for the National Ballet of Canada as part of the program Innovation. This choreography won four Dora Mavor Moore Awards for best choreography, best performance, best score and best production. The piece was inspired by Steven Johnson's work Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software. The dance mimicked the movement of insects, which was a metaphor for human behavior. Some of the themes in the piece included hive mentality, hierarchical mentalities and gender issues. The dancers often performed the same movements but at random intervals throughout the piece. There were also moments of solos and small group pieces that mimicked significant events such as a mating ritual or the coronation of a hive queen. ==Return to Frankfurt==

premiered Pite's original choreography from 2010 to 2012. In 2010, Kidd Pivot signed a two-year deal (which was later extended to three years) to become the resident dance company of Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt. As part of the deal, the company changed their name to Kidd Pivot Frankfort RM and premiered new choreography by Pite at the theatre house. This resulted in Pite splitting her time between Frankfurt and her hometown of Vancouver. Kidd Pivot also increased their touring schedule during this time as the company was invited to perform in various countries. It explored the relationship between two people trying to connect and consistently missing each other. Throughout the piece a voice-over hinted at previous events between the two dancers. In the first half of the show Prospero was the only dancer dressed in street clothes while the other dancers dressed in grey clothing and face masks. Prospero manipulated the other dancers as if they were robots. In the second half all of the dancers are dressed in street clothes and Prospero danced a duet or trio with each character, showcasing his relationship with them. Throughout the piece Pite projected the act and scene number from the original play with a short scene description to help the audience understand the plot. At dramatic moments she also projected the corresponding line from The Tempest. Pite used puppets and shadows to help explain the plot, creating a play-within-a-play feeling. ==Later works==

In 2013, Sadler's Wells appointed Pite as an associate artist following her residency with Künstlerhaus Mousonturm. The following year The Tempest Replica was performed at Sadler's Wells as its United Kingdom premiere. Pite took this opportunity to rework and improve upon the piece, stating "it wasn't done. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't what it was going to be. I knew that I would need more time and money to fix it." This newer version of Tempest Replica won Pite the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in 2015. It was danced to Adès' song Polaris which was played by 75 musicians placed throughout the theatre and featured 64 dancers from Kidd Pivot and London Contemporary Dance School. for her work on this piece as well as The Tempest Replica, and A Picture of You Falling in 2015. Pite premiered a new piece at Panamania during the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. Betroffenheit is a collaboration between Pite and Jonathon Young, co-artistic director of Vancouver-based theatre group Electric Company Theatre, with dancers from Kidd Pivot. The title refers to the indescribable shock after a traumatic event. Betroffenheit received several awards; Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production in 2017, The Georgia Straight's Critic's Choice Innovation Award presented at The Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards in 2016, Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production in 2016, and The Critic's Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Performance in Modern Dance to Jonathon Young for his performance in Betroffenheit in 2016. In 2017, the Royal Opera House commissioned a new piece from Pite called Flight Pattern which premiered in March of that year. Pite set the piece to the Polish composer Henryk Gorecki's 1976 Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. It was conducted by Koen Kessels, the soprano was Jennifer Davis, and the dancers were members of the Royal Ballet. Critic Luke Jennings described it as "a sombre and deeply affecting work" that "cuts to the heart". Pite received an Olivier Award in 2018 for "Best New Dance Production" for Flight Pattern. In 2022, Pite was the subject of a feature-length documentary, ''Crystal Pite: Angels' Atlas'', directed by Chelsea McMullan. In 2026, Pite delivered a massage on International Dance Day. ==Choreographic works==

• 1989 Between The Bliss and Me - Ballet BC • 2004 Xspectacle - Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal • 2007 The Second Person - Nederlands Dans Theater I • 2008 Matter of a Maker - Cullberg Ballet • 2009 Emergence - The National Ballet of Canada • 2009 Dark Matters - Kidd Pivot • 2010 Plot Point - Nederlands Dans Theater I • 2012 Solo Echo - Nederlands Dans Theater I • 2015 In The Event - Nederlands Dans Theater I • 2017 Flight Pattern - The Royal Ballet • 2019 Body And Soul - Paris Opera Ballet • 2020 ''Angels' Atlas'' - The National Ballet of Canada • 2022 Light of Passage - The Royal Ballet ==Personal life==

Pite's partner is Jay Gower Taylor, who is also Kidd Pivot's set designer. She currently resides in Vancouver to live closer to her family. ==Choreographic style==

Pite choreographs in contemporary and neo-classical dance styles. Her choreography tries to convey emotion to the audience. The topics of her choreography often address the human condition. Pite stated that her choreography is usually her attempt to translate an idea she has into movement. Her dancers will often transition between exaggerated shapes. ==Awards==

• 1995 : Banff Centre's Clifford E. Lee Award • 2004: Paul D. Fleck Fellowship in the Arts from The Banff Centre • 2005: Isadora Award for Choreography • 2012: Lola Award • 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) • 2017: Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production (Betroffenheit, Sadler's Wells) • 2018: Dance Magazine Award • 2018: Grand Prix de la Danse de Montreal Laureate 2018 (Betroffenheit, Festival TransAmériques) • 2018: Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production (Flight Pattern, The Royal Opera House) • 2018: Critics' Circle National Dance Award : Best Modern Choreography (The Statement, for Nederlands Dans Theater I) • 2019: Chrystal Dance Prize (Revisor, Dance Victoria) ==References==