Q&A with Choreographer Crystal Pite
Crystal Pite discusses her relationship with Nederlands Dans Theater and her compelling boardroom drama, The Statement, being performed at the Kennedy Center.
Crystal Pite’s work has been hailed as “unusually poetic” and packing an “emotional punch” that consistently connects with dance audiences.
In 2002, the Canadian choreographer and dancer founded Kidd Pivot whose name — part outlaw, part balletic technique — embodies her own balance of “recklessness and rigor,” qualities she admired in William Forsythe when dancing in Ballett Frankfurt. In addition to work with her own company, Pite has been commissioned to choreograph for companies across Europe and North America including the National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Ballet in London, and the Opéra national de Paris.
For the past decade, Pite has been an associate choreographer with the Nederlands Dans Theater, creating nine new works. In 2016, the company premiered The Statement, which is a theatrical and compelling scene set in an ominous boardroom that Pite choreographed to a recorded script written by her frequent collaborator Jonathon Young.
The Statement is part of a program Nederlands Dans Theater is bringing to the Kennedy Center, and ahead of those performances, Pite talked about that piece and her long and fruitful relationship with the Dutch company.
You’ve worked with the Nederlands Dans Theater for 10 years now. How has your relationship evolved with the company over that decade with them?
There is a trust and an understanding that builds over time… even as the NDT dancers come and go, there is some kind of through-line for me. I’m less nervous with them now than I was ten years ago, but the pressure has intensified in a different way: I want to create the conditions for all their talent and knowledge to connect and thrive. It’s my duty and my privilege to deliver that. And I don’t want to let them down.
How do the particular strengths of a company influence your own use of gesture and approach to movement when you’re creating a piece for them? Do the qualities of a company like NDT that you’re working with impact your vocabulary as a choreographer?
I’ve learned so much from working with the NDT dancers. Their abilities and sensibilities align with what I’m interested in exploring, and they’re endlessly creative and resourceful and courageous. They’re masterful dancers but they are also curious and soulful humans that love to collaborate. They’ve helped me to open up unexpected corners and pathways in my choreography, and helped me to define my language and ideals.
You’ve said that you ask yourself “why are you trying to accomplish something through the medium of dance” with every project you work on. What was your answer to yourself for that question in The Statement?
The Statement was conceived as a companion piece to a work I created for NDT in 2013 called Parade. It presents a politicized and volatile frontier, where borders are shifting, and people are displaced or decimated so others can gain ground. Though its theme is as timely as ever, Parade nevertheless sits at a level of remove — as if the events are from a time long ago and in a land comfortably far off.
In contrast, The Statement is a wedge of realism; cold and current. We recognize both the characters and the language as being of our world and our time. The Statement is a one-act play, with four characters locked in their own battle for control, and with the morality of their actions: they have been tasked with fueling a conflict in a distant country. Character “A” declares: “For generations they’ve been fighting. All we did was use it. We used it as an opportunity — the attacks — the — for investment. For growth. We used it.” Now, being asked to take responsibility for their actions in order to exonerate their superiors, a conflict is rising within their department.
Do you think about choreographing to Jonathon Young’s spoken word elements differently than choreographing to music?
It’s very similar to choreographing to music. The main difference is that the familiar human gesture or posture that is normally associated with a particular phrase of speech, becomes the source material for that moment in the choreography. So the choreography is packed with images from real life and real conversation, but these images are often distorted or exaggerated.
The translation from verbal language into a physical language is direct and quite accessible. Using the rhythm of the text gives us structure in time. The dancers have to nail it, or the viewer gets split into seeing and hearing, the same way they would if a film is slightly out of sync with its sound. The Statement was really satisfying to make. Jonathon’s text is so motivating and sharp.
What are you currently working on, and what is next for you?
I’m collaborating again with Jonathon Young on a new full-length creation for my own company Kidd Pivot. The discoveries we made in The Statement inspired us to push further in this direction: working with text, with narrative, with the tension between language and body. But before that, I’m making a new work for NDT set to the amazing vocal piece Partita, created by Caroline Shaw. It premieres in about six weeks.
