Nicole Mion's #CrystalPiteMoment
In 1995, I sat in a darkened theatre at the Banff Centre, waiting to see a new choreographer. The Clifford E. Lee Award winner - and the youngest ever to win. Usually, these award commissions sit firmly on the ballet side of a straddled ballet/contemporary fence. But this piece, including a long diagonal slow motion fight to the finish line between two medieval prince-like wannabes attempting to outwit each other in a suspended animation sprint to the finish line was like nothing else at the Clifford E. Lee award performances. This was Crystal Pite. This was Crystal pre-William Forsyth and the Frankfurt Ballet, pre-Kidd Pivot, pre-contemporary dance choreographer superstar status, pre-worldwide commissions and tours. Even then, she was clever, startlingly original, a lover of the deconstructed narrative, and master of twisted off-centred idiosyncratic phrasing. It was fresh, and Canadian. And the beginning of so much more. I drove back from the Banff Centre that night replaying the work in my mind.
Dark Matters, 2012. Photo by Christopher Duggan
I remember Damon Johnston so excited when Pite’s Double Story came to town. I remember startling duets in collaboration with Richard Siegal, astronaut helmets and a suicide, in signature Pite form. It was again, like nothing else. Then a blur of brilliant works - practically one a year. Each time, complex themes juxtaposed with seemingly opposing imagery and rhythm, loving assertions of how dance and theatre could sit together to reveal human nature in all its beauty and absurdity. I remember Dark Matters, a co-present with Springboard and the GRAND, that brought a frenzy of eager audience members - so many in fact that audiences packed the nosebleed seats at the edge of the lighting grid, pressing into the electricity of the theatre air. Pressing forward into space as you lean forward to kiss someone for the first time. Or like monkeys leaning off of branches stretching out for a better view in the metal universe of a modern theatre. It was so exhilarating. At the end of the show, I remember an audience member grabbing me to share the awestruck sensation they were feeling - but there were no words, just a sweaty fist grabbing my arm and a smiling face. I nodded in understanding.
Tempest Replica, Fluid Fest 2012.
Crystal’s work connects in ways that few others can, and on the stage are always the most arresting dancers. Sublime dancers from around the world made of elastic sinew and spirit, mixed with grit and personality, razor blade specificity and open hearted vulnerability. Living on a magical edge of wild abandon. They take us there with them, to the depths of our humanity.
I remember workshops with Crystal at the lead, where dancers would be unleashed to the power of personal perspective and autonomous expression, how the foot meets the earth, and how the body can swim through a series of universes, the alchemy and geometry of the physical form, a palette of somatic maps and curious physical questioning. Always a room filled with the sweat and physical expansion of the mind, body and community in reverent connection.
After one such workshop, I waited with Crystal for our ride back to the hotel. A quiet moment in a hallway, with no agenda. An unadorned moment of being human in the midst of the art machine. Both of us tired from the day, the week, the year, mixed with hopes for the future.... chatting amidst the quiet hum of the culture engine in neutral. Always there is a storm of intensity, a piercing calm, a humble questioning, and an unbridled curiosity that surrounds Crystal Pite.
Like Damon Johnston said to me “Oh man Nicole, you gotta experience this”. If you know Damon Johnston, you know that he holds a soft spot in his heart for performers, but especially for dancers and choreographers, and an extra special place in his heart for his wife Michele Moss, and… Crystal Pite. A platonic art crush that I understand.
Body and Soul, 2019. Photo by Julien Benhamou.
Springboard Performance is excited to offer to Canadian audiences the film premiere of Body and Soul, choreographed by the 2020 Order of Canada inductee Crystal Pite for the legendary Paris Opera Ballet. Purchase your tickets here.