Unless something drastic happens, the Directors of this venerable order will be facing dissolution. As the meeting progresses, the line between real and re-enactment begins to blur, ancient forces are awoken, and it soon becomes clear that there is something much more at stake here than a mock-medieval tournament.

 

 

From the team that brought you the ground-breaking, award-winning productions of Betroffenheit and Revisor, comes Kidd Pivot’s latest offering: a dance theatre hybrid that promises the company’s signature wit and invention. Fuelling Kidd Pivot’s work is a fascination with story and the role of language as an animating force.

 

 

 

FEATURED REVIEWS
“Astonishingly beautiful. A wonder.” — The Guardian

 

“Kidd Pivot’s often astonishing Assembly Hall finds power in contrast: voice-overs counterpoint movement, time periods collide, and atmospheres dissolve.” — Intermission Magazine

 

“A mesmerizing rumination on purpose and belonging.” — The Georgia Straight

 

“A remarkable exploration of contrasts - light and dark, silliness and seriousness, the absurd and the real.” — Dance Debrief

 

“Funny, cerebral, utterly original and mind-expanding.” — Create A Stir

 

“Few contemporary dancemakers have greater command of a large ensemble... even when it's only a cast of eight [Pite] floods the stage with movement.” — Financial Times

 

“Assembly Hall is a wild ride, mixing the mundane with fantasy and much humour.” — CriticalDance

 

“A salubrious tribute to the power of collective fantasy, a touching exploration of grief, and a sprinkle of delightful New York camp." — FAD Magazine

 

Crystal Pite
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

 

Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite is a former company member of Ballet British Columbia and William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt. In a choreographic career spanning 35 years, Pite has created more than sixty works for companies such as The Royal Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, The Paris Opera Ballet, and The National Ballet of Canada. She is known for works that courageously address themes such as trauma, addiction, conflict, consciousness and mortality; her bold and original vision has earned her international acclaim and inspired an entire generation of dance artists.

 

She is an Associate Artist at three institutions: Nederlands Dans Theater, Sadler’s Wells (London) and Canada’s National Arts Centre. She has an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University, is a Member of the Order of Canada and holds the honour of Officier de l’Ordre of Arts et des Lettres from France. In 2002, she formed Kidd Pivot in Vancouver, a company that strives to distill and translate universal questions into artworks that connect us to essential parts of humanity. World-renowned for radical hybrids of dance and theatre, Kidd Pivot tours internationally with critically-acclaimed works such as Betroffenheit, Revisor, and Assembly Hall (co-created with Jonathon Young), The Tempest Replica, Dark Matters, Lost Action, and The You Show.

 

Pite’s many awards include the 2022 Governor General of Canada’s Performing Arts Award, the 2011 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award and the Canada Council’s 2012 Jacqueline Lemieux Prize. In 2017, she received the Benois de la Danse for her creation The Seasons’ Canon at the Paris Opera Ballet. In 2018, she received the Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal. She is the recipient of five Sir Laurence Olivier awards for creations with Kidd Pivot and The Royal Ballet.

 

 

Jonathon Young
PLAYWRIGHT-IN-RESIDENCE

Jonathon Young is playwright-in-residence at Kidd Pivot and a core artist and co-founder of Electric Company Theatre, where he has created and performed in over 20 original productions since the company was formed in 1996. He has worked as an actor on stages across Canada including Soulpepper Theatre (King Lear), Coalmine Theatre (Knives in Hens), Luminato Festival, Vancouver Playhouse (Full Light of Day), Necessary Angel (All but Gone), Theatre Calgary, (No Exit, The Great Gatsby), Bard on the Beach (Hamlet). Assembly Hall is the third full-length work created with Crystal Pite after Betroffenheit (2015) and Revisor (2019). In addition, he wrote the text for two projects at Nederlands Dans Theater (Parade and The Statement). Jonathon is the recipient of the UK National Dance Award.

 

 

Kidd Pivot
World-renowned for radical hybrids of dance and theatre, Kidd Pivot creations are assembled with a keen sense of wit and invention. Led by Canadian choreographer and director Crystal Pite, the company is unflinching in the face of such challenging and complex themes as trauma, addiction, conflict, consciousness and mortality. Pite’s bold and original vision has earned her international acclaim and inspired an entire generation of dance artists.

Kidd Pivot strives to distill and translate universal questions into artworks that connect us to profound and essential parts of humanity. “Running through all of our work is the question of what moves us,” says Pite. Kidd Pivot tours internationally with critically acclaimed works such as Betroffenheit and Revisor (both co-created with playwright Jonathon Young), The Tempest Replica, Dark Matters, Lost Action, and The You Show. Since 2015, Kidd Pivot has measured its touring carbon footprint and offset over 1000 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), enabling Kidd Pivot to be one of the first dance companies to tour carbon neutral.

 

 

CREATIVE TEAM
Choreographed and Directed by Crystal Pite
Written and Directed by Jonathon Young
Composition and Sound Design: Owen Belton, Alessandro Juliani and Meg Roe
Scenic Design: Jay Gower Taylor
Costume Design: Nancy Bryant
Lighting Design: Tom Visser
Video Design: Cybèle Young
Show Control and Sound Programmer: Eric Chad
Assistant to the Creators: Eric Beauchesne
Company: Kidd Pivot
Organized by: Shanghai International Dance Center Theater