Blog four - My Chosen Practitioner

The practitioner I have chosen to focus on and use as inspiration in my own choreography is Crystal Pite; who is an Canadian choreographer creating work for many big companies including the Royal Ballet - which she made her debut in the 2016/17 season with a piece called ‘Flight Pattern’. (Crystal Pite — People — Royal Opera House, 2022) Pite is known for creating work which addresses complex themes and problems relevant in today’s society which are also important topics to her personally. (Company – Kidd Pivot, 2022) 

‘Flight Pattern’ is an example of a piece she created in response to the refugee crisis in modern society, which explores themes of separation and grief. (Winship, 2022). In an interview with the Royal Ballet, Pite describes her creation as ‘’her way of coping with the world at the moment’’ and that she ‘’can’t not talk about it’’. (Royal Opera House, 2019) 

One thing that drew me to Crystal Pite was her focus on incorporating her emotions and how she felt about the topic in her work, making it feel very personal from an audience and artistic perspective. I also like the way that she already had an idea of what she wanted before she found the music however, the music ultimately inspired the choreography; drawing together the emotion from the music and her ideas to help give it a purpose. I find this to be a powerful way of creating choreography where everything has an intention behind it, to make the audience feel a certain way - this is something I would consider for my own choreographic process. 

Below is an image from her one-act piece: 'Flight Pattern'

(Royal Opera House, 2019) 

Bibliography 

Kiddpivot.org. 2022. Company – Kidd Pivot. [online] Available at: <https://kiddpivot.org/company-info/> [Accessed 12 October 2022]. 

Royal Opera House, 2019. Crystal Pite on her ballet Flight Pattern (The Royal Ballet). [image] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPy9TesbS8w&t=139s> [Accessed 16 October 2022]. 

Roh.org.uk. 2022. Crystal Pite — People — Royal Opera House. [online] Available at: <http://www.roh.org.uk/people/crystal-pite> [Accessed 16 October 2022]. 

Winship, L., 2022. Crystal Pite: the dance genius who stages the impossible. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/sep/18/crystal-pite-betroffenheit-best-dance-21st-century> [Accessed 12 October 2022].