Crystal Pite knows that audiences will watch her contemporary dance company, Kidd Pivot, with trepidation.
“They feel they don’t have enough knowledge to get something out of it,” she says over the phone. “I would advise people to trust themselves to watch it the way it needs to be watched.
“Trust your eyes, trust your heart.”
And if they don’t understand the story, that’s OK: “There is foreshadowing and flashbacks, but we don’t really tell a story that is fragmented. There is no beginning, middle and end.”
What audiences will see, is contemporary dance that is “very physical” and is influenced by “hip hop, jazz and, gosh, all kinds of styles,” says Pite. “What you will see is spectacular and physical.”
What audiences will hear, is an original composition by Owen Belton.
Pite’s formal training is in ballet, something that gives her coordination and articulation to explore other forms of dance.
She founded Kidd Pivot in 2001 and has produced Uncollected Works in 2002 and Double Story in 2004.
The show she brings to the Yukon Arts Centre Oct. 16 and 17 is called, Lost Action. It is inspired by the military veterans who have been growing old and “disappearing”.
Letters her uncle had written during the Second World War became an important part of the process, forcing her to question the piece and to re-evaluate.
“It is not about war,” she says. “It is about my relationship to the subject.”
For the audience, she says, “Maybe you shouldn’t interpret it.
“In school we are taught to interpret, but this is beyond words.
“There is no quiz at the end.”
Tickets for the Oct. 16 and 17 show at the Yukon Arts Centre are available at the Yukon Art Centre Box Office and Arts Underground.
