Practitioner Influence Crystal Pite
Practitioner influence Crystal Pite
Crystal Pite is a Canadian choreographer; her first
professional debut was in 1990 and since then she has created over fifty pieces
for many different companies (ROH Biography, 2020) The way she approaches choreography is by
building a choreographic phrase, she starts by using basic movement to start such
as a mini combination then expanding and enlarging the movements by recognizing
the feeling behind this. Her aim she wants her work to have on the audience is for
their “eyes to be bouncing around the dancer” (CBC Arts, 2018). Also, as a choreographer she
grounds her work on the specifics, she aims to work with the “strengths and
abilities” of the dancers she is working with. She explained this in an interview
on one of her pieces ‘Flight Pattern’, Pite mentioned that since having a child
and becoming a mother she has completely changed the outlook on life and
explains how she feels “more aware, more passionate, more terrified and more
vulnerable” (Ballet Position, 2016).
As a group, we took inspiration and influence from Crystal Pite’s piece ‘Solo Echo’. There was one main section that influenced our household motif, this was from how two dancers used basic, delicate movements and use of touch and response. After watching the short clip of this we decided to use the idea of this to create a motif, linking to how Pite builds a phrase we followed her approach and started with the basics and then worked on how to expand these further to enlarge the movements. We wanted the audience to get the feeling of the touch and response idea and for this section, no set narrative. The choreographic approach of 'solo Echo' is based on a poem with themes of love, loss, and acceptance (Göteborgs Operan, 2019). The layout of this piece is very abstract as she has choreographed a mixture of small phrases in duets with dancers entering and exiting the stage quickly almost enhancing the idea of chaos. The style of her movement within this piece is not the typical neoclassical as there are moments when the dancers are performing more standing still phrases as well as linking these to whole body phrases. This is similar to how as a group we have motifs that are small and basic with little movement and then the contrast of having motifs that involve the body as a whole. Also, we have got themes within our choreography the two of which are individuality and conformity this links to Pite who also includes themes within her choreography. Following this, in 'Flight Pattern' she has choreographed the piece to be very emotional and links to the idea of the holocaust and the themes of motherhood and separation of families (ROH Flight Pattern, 2020). Her style in the piece 'Solo Echo' also coincides with her piece ‘Flight Pattern’ as the movements come through a feeling from the body and express fluidity through the whole body as well as elements of stance and stillness. These elements are often overused but, in her choreography, she makes them look effective and gives impactful ideas to the audience. In our group piece, we use moments of stillness to show our stimulus and to show how from conforming people turn to individuality, and the reaction others have towards this are the moments of stance.
'Flight Pattern' -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPy9TesbS8w
'Solo Echo'- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IId60ukhApw
references:
Ballet Position. (2016). Crystal Pite - Rigour and Recklessness. Available: http://www.balletposition.com/blog/crystal-pite-rigour-and-recklessness. Last accessed 27th November 2020.
CBC Arts. (2018). How Crystal Pite builds her striking choreographic phrases. Available: How Crystal Pite builds her striking choreographic phrases. Last accessed 27th November 2020.
Göteborgs Operan. (2019). Autodance & Solo Echo. Available: https://en.opera.se/forestallningar/autodance-solo-echo-2019-2020/. Last accessed 27th November 2020
Royal Opera House. (2020). Crystal Pite- Biography. Available: http://www.roh.org.uk/people/crystal-pite. Last accessed 27th November 2020.
Royal Opera House. (2020). Flight Pattern 2019. Available: https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/flight-pattern-stream-details?gclid=CjwKCAiA2O39BRBjEiwApB2IknOIso7-y-qZMDeWw890SvrVPqDHrykRRzs4nndptdR_ngPGT0UgZBoCicYQAvD_BwE. Last accessed 27th November 2020.
You have described Pite's expressive movement style and impact of stillness for the audience really well. I really like how you have paid such close attention to detail with this small part of Solo Echo and have expanded upon this to relate to your theme. What factors of Crystal Pite's choreographic process have inspired you in particular, are there any methods that she uses?
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comment. I feel like one of the methods we used was using small phrases as building blocks to expand them into more developed phrases. However; I personally think that we were more inspired by her movement and choreographic style over her methods of choreographing.
DeleteExpanding from Daisys comment, is there any movement that you have taken directly from Crystal Pite's work?
ReplyDeleteWe haven't taken any movements directly only inspiration from her work alongside methods she uses.
DeleteYou have gone into great detail describing Crystal Pite's way of movement. Which choreographic approach of hers do you prefer most, building small phrases into larger ones or using themes (like love, loss and acceptance) to guide creativity? Do you think one is more effective than the other?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback. The choreographic approach I find more effective is building small phrases as its easier to develop and expand; however, I do think using word and themes can be a good process and effective just a slower method.
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