In a limited Toronto run of only seven performances, Canadian Stage will present Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM’s potent and affecting dance piece Dark Matters. Conceptualized and choreographed by the internationally-acclaimed and award-winning Crystal Pite, the piece was originally presented to sold-out audiences as part of the Vancouver Cultural Olympia during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
About the show: A theatrical fable that combines dance and puppetry, featuring seven extraordinary dancers and a stunning original score by long-time collaborator Owen Belton, Dark Matters receives its Toronto premiere from February 28 to March 3, 2012 on stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre in the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts (27 Front St. E). Tickets from $22 to $99 are available online at www.canadianstage.com, by phone at 416.368.3110 or in person at the box office.
“Dark Matters is the type of truly unexpected, exciting work that makes for a thrilling audience experience,” said Canadian Stage Artistic & General Director, Matthew Jocelyn. “Crystal Pite is one of our country’s most renowned choreographers and this unique, breathtaking work with its shadowy puppeteers, extraordinary dancers and gripping music should not be missed.”
The creation of the piece was driven by Pite’s curiosity and fascination with the unseen forces at work on mind and body, and through her choreography both the dark matter theorized by physicists and the darker matters that drive us as humans are beautifully embodied on stage. “For me, Dark Matters is a portrait of the unknown, a performance that pulls itself apart in an attempt to discover what it’s made of” said Pite.
The piece is structured in two distinct acts, with the first portraying the tension between creation and destruction with dancers being manipulated by anonymous puppeteers who drive the narrative. The second act is pure dance, with choreography that aspires to the purity and grace of a marionette, while grappling with the question of free will and the conflict inherent in manipulation.
About Dark Matters
Created by Crystal Pite with original music by Owen Belton
February 28 to March 3, 2012
Opening and media night February 28 (no previews)
A Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM production presented by Canadian Stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre in the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts (27 Front Street East). Dark Matters is a co-production of Dance Victoria, the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), and L’Agora de la danse (Montreal) and is made possible through the support of Arts Partners in Creative Development.
Performances run Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. with matinees on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. Tickets from $22 to $99 are available online, by phone at 416.368.3110 or in person at the box office. For details visit www.canadianstage.com.
Running time: 120 minutes, including a 20 minute intermission
Featuring dancers Eric Beauchesne, Peter Chu, Sandra Marín Garcia, Yannick Matthon, Jirí Pokorný, Cindy Salgado, Jermaine Maurice Spivey
Canadian Stage Production Sponsor: Scotiabank Group
About Crystal Pite:
Born and raised on the Canadian West Coast, choreographer and performer Crystal Pite is a former company member of Ballet British Columbia and William Forsythe's Ballett Frankfurt. Crystal?s choreographic debut was in 1990, at Ballet British Columbia. Since then, she has created works for Nederlands Dans Theater I, Cullberg Ballet, Ballett Frankfurt, The National Ballet of Canada, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal (Resident Choreographer, 2001-2004), Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, Alberta Ballet, Ballet Jorgen, and several independent dance artists; most recently Louise Lecavalier. Crystal is Associate Choreographer of Nederlands Dans Theater and Associate Dance Artist of National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Crystal is the recipient of the Banff Centre?s Clifford E. Lee Award (1995), the Bonnie Bird North American Choreography Award (2004), and the Isadora Award (2005). Her work has received four Dora Mavor Moore Awards (2009), and a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award (2006). She is the recipient of the 2008 Governor General of Canada?s Performing Arts Award, Mentorship Program and the 2011 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award.
About Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM:
Integrating movement, original music, text, and rich visual design, Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM?s performance work is assembled with recklessness and rigour, balancing sharp exactitude with irreverence and risk. Kidd Pivot?s distinct choreographic language – a breadth of movement fusing classical elements and the complexity and freedom of structured improvisation – is marked by a strong theatrical sensibility and a keen sense of wit and invention. Under the direction of internationally renowned Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM has been resident company at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt since 2010. The residency is made possible by Kulturfonds Frankfurt Rhein Main. Crystal Pite has collaborated with celebrated dance artists, theatre companies and filmmakers in Canada, Europe, and the United States. Since 2001, Crystal has created and performed under the banner of her own company. Her work and her company have been recognized with numerous awards and commissions. Kidd Pivot tours extensively around the world with productions that include The You Show (2010), Dark Matters (2009), Fault (2008), Lost Action (2006), Uncollected Work (2002) and Double Story (2004), created with Richard Siegal. Kidd Pivot is the recipient of the 2006 Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award. Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM premiered its most recent work, The Tempest Replica, on October 20, 2011 at Künstlerhaus Mousonturn in Frankfurt, Germany.
