Kidd Pivot (known from 2010 to 2012 as Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM), is a contemporary dance company based in Vancouver, Canada. The company, currently comprising eight full-time dancers and several guest dancers, is led by its founder and artistic director, Crystal Pite.
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Early Years
Kidd Pivot was founded in 2002 by Canadian dancer and choreographer, Crystal Pite. The company's first full-length piece, Uncollected Work (2003), features Pite and fellow Canadian dancer Cori Caulfield in two sections: Farther Out and Field: Fiction. Inspired by Annie Dillard's The Writing Life, Pite explores the artist's creative process in this work.
The company's subsequent piece, Double Story (2004), co-created with Richard Siegal, "integrate[s] text, puppets, and goofy masks," foreshadowing the puppetry that features in Pite's later work.
Lost Action
In 2006, Kidd Pivot received the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award (Dance), a $60,000 award that resulted in the creation of Lost Action: seven dancers, including Pite herself, performing on the themes of war, love, and loss. Kaija Pepper of The Dance Current says the following about the piece: "Lost Action, however it is understood or experienced by the crowds that filled the theatre (the last four performances were sold out), is a major work of art."
Kidd Pivot performed Lost Action at Sadler's Wells in London as part of the theatre's Debut series. Judith Mackrell of The Guardian commented that "Pite has a rare gift for orchestrating bodies, part of the tension in Lost Action comes from wondering how she can top each new invention. But she has an even rarer gift for conveying emotion." Luke Jennings of The Observer listed Lost Action first in his Top 10 list of dance works performed in London during 2009: "this profound and compassionate work was absolutely the revelation of the year."
In 2011, the National Film Board of Canada released a short film, Trace, based on Lost Action.
Dark Matters and the 2010 Cultural Olympiad
Pite was commissioned to create a piece for the 2010 Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver, BC, in association with the 2010 Winter Olympics. The result was Dark Matters: "sinister magic with towering shadows, menacing puppets, and hooded figures."
Dark Matters has continued to tour internationally and is part of the company's current repertoire. Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival presented Dark Matters in 2011 and 2012.
Künstlerhaus Mousonturm
From January 2010 to June 2012, Kidd Pivot formed a residency partnership with Frankfurt-based Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and Kulturfonds Frankfurt Rhine-Main, changing its public name to Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM in recognition of the support received. As part of the arrangement, the company worked in Frankfurt for several extended periods. While resident at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, the company created and presented The You Show (2010) and The Tempest Replica (2011), both of which are active in the repertoire.