Kidd Pivot (Vancouver)

Revisor

Created by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young

March 30 – April 2, 2022 | 8pm
Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton Street)

Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission

Pre-show Talk 7:15pm each night in the Vancouver Playhouse Upper Lobby. Hosts: Mirna Zagar (Executive Director, The Dance Centre – Mar 30 & 31), Artemis Gordon (Artistic Director, Arts Umbrella Dance – Apr 1 & 2). Guests: Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young, co-creators of Revisor.

Post-show Social after the performance on Friday night in the Playhouse Salons.

Back by popular demand comes Revisor, a twinned hybrid of dance and theatre fuelled by the classic tropes of political satire. Choreographer Crystal Pite and writer/director Jonathon Young, the creators of the internationally acclaimed Betroffenheit, take inspiration from Nikolai Gogol’s scabrous pantomime of power and politics.

When a sneaky bureaucrat undoes the corrupt officials of a provincial city, out of a heaping trash-pile of bad behaviour — lust, greed, fear and mendacity — emerges a warped yet prescient image of our current state.

It is a funhouse mirror, a horror show, a comedy that is no longer funny. More than just an excoriating takedown of human venality, Revisor pulls apart the very foundations of the creative impulse, itself a form of obsessive control. As the architecture of farce falls away, what emerges is the raw truth of the body.

Co-produced by Sadler’s Wells (London, UK), Théâtre de la Ville – Paris/La Villette – Paris (Paris, France), Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Banff, Canada), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (North Carolina, US), The CanDance Network Creation Fund, Dance Victoria (Victoria, Canada), Canadian Stage (Toronto, Canada), National Arts Centre (Ottawa, Canada), DanceHouse with support from Anndraya Luui (Vancouver, Canada), Dance Victoria (Victoria, Canada), Danse Danse (Montreal, Canada) and Seattle Theatre Group (Seattle, US).

This is one of the 200 exceptional projects funded through the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter Program. With this $35M investment, the Council supports the creation and sharing of the arts in communities across Canada.

Developed with support from the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund.

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Production Sponsors

Anndraya Luui and Sonya Wall

“Much like Betroffenheit’s nightmarish second half, this portion operates like an externalization of forces we cannot see – it’s a reification of fear, suffering and voicelessness. In it, we revisit scenes and sequences from the show’s first part, but it’s as though the fog of corruption has burned off, and we’re able to see with a kind of philosophical clarity.” – The Globe & Mail

“The result is astonishing not for its imitation, but for its exactitude: the rhythms and intonations of speech drive every gesture, stance and step. Choreographically, it’s riveting, both for the inventive articulation of individual bodies and for the fine-tuned dynamics of the ensemble, as responsive as conversation itself.” – The Guardian

“By stretching time, bending it, and abstracting the story, Pite and Young take us into a kind of alternate dimension—one so feverishly removed from reality, in fact, that not all the creatures are even human anymore.” – The Georgia Straight

“It’s an irresistible ride.” – The Dance Current

Kidd Pivot

Integrating movement, original music, text, and rich visual design, Kidd Pivot’s performance work is assembled with recklessness and rigour, balancing sharp exactitude with irreverence and risk. Under the direction of internationally renowned Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, the company’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.

Kidd Pivot tours extensively around the world with productions such as Betroffenheit (2015), The Tempest Replica (2011), The You Show (2010), Dark Matters (2009), and Lost Action (2006).

Since 2015, Kidd Pivot has measured its touring carbon footprint and offset over 400 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), enabling Kidd Pivot to be one of the first dance companies to tour carbon neutral.

Crystal Pite

Co-creator, Choreographer, Director

Crystal Pite
Crystal Pite. Photo by Michael Slobodian.

Crystal Pite is a former company member of Ballet British Columbia and William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt. She has created over 50 works for companies including The Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater I, Ballett Frankfurt, National Ballet of Canada, and Ballet British Columbia. The recipient of numerous awards for artistic excellence, including three Olivier Awards and, most recently, the 2018 Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal, Pite is an Associate Choreographer of Nederlands Dans Theater, Associate Dance Artist of Canada’s National Arts Centre, and Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells, London. She holds an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University. In 2002, she formed Kidd Pivot in Vancouver.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jonathon Young

Co-creator, Writer, Voice Actor

Jonathan Young
Jonathon Young. Photo by Michael Slobodian.

Canadian theatre maker Jonathon Young is Playwright-in-Residence at Kidd Pivot and a co-founder of Electric Company Theatre, where he has created and performed in over 20 original productions: Tear the Curtain! (Arts Club Theatre, Canadian Stage), No Exit (American Conservatory Theatre), Betroffenheit (international tour). He has worked across Canada as a freelance actor on multiple projects: All But Gone (Necessary Angel, Toronto) The Waiting Room (Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver), The Great Gatsby (Theatre Calgary), Hamlet (Bard on the Beach, Vancouver), and wrote text for Crystal Pite on two productions for Nederlands Dans Theater (Parade and The Statement). Jonathon is the recipient of an Olivier Award, the UK National Dance Award and several Jessie Richardson Awards for writing and performance.

Owen Belton – Composer, Sound Designer

03 Owen Belton photo©Michael Slobodian

Owen graduated with a degree in Fine and Performing Arts and studied acoustic and computer music composition. Since 1994, he has created scores for dance companies including Kidd Pivot, National Ballet of Canada, Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet Jorgen, Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm, Ballet Nuremberg, Oregon Ballet Theatre and 420 People in Prague.

Alessandro Juliani – Composer, Sound Designer, Voice Actor

04 Alessandro AJ JulianiAJ is a Canadian artist who has been working in the disciplines of music, sound, theatre, and film for the past 30 years. He is frequently executed, maimed, disemboweled, dismembered, immolated, crucified and/or air-locked on your favourite locally-shot television programs and films. He often lends his voice to the animated programs which your kids/grand-kids/great-grand-kids/socially-awkward uncles currently binge. As a composer and sound designer, his creative energies have contributed to/detracted from numerous productions and films. People have occasionally given him trophies for his work. Some of them are transparent, and others more opaque. He makes his home in Vancouver with his partner and frequent collaborator, Meg Roe, and their three children.

Meg Roe – Composer, Sound Designer, Voice Director, Voice Actor

05 Meg Roe

Meg is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has been seen and heard across Canada and internationally with: Crows Theatre, Shaw Festival, Theatre Calgary, Canadian Stage, Factory Theatre, PuSh Festival, Alberta Theatre Projects, Bard on the Beach, Theatre Junction, Citadel Theatre, Ruby Slippers Theatre, Electric Company Theatre, Blackbird Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, Arts Club, Belfry, Theatre SKAM, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Catalyst Theatre, RealWheels, Intrepid Theatre, Elbow Theatre, Vancouver Playhouse, Western Canada Theatre, National Arts Centre, Centaur Theatre, The Banff Centre, Yukon Arts Centre, Why Not Theatre, Savage Society, vAct, Theatre Replacement, Rumble Theatre, The Cultch, the American Conservatory Theatre (San Francisco), Center Theater Group (Los Angeles), and as a collaborator with Crystal Pite and Kidd Pivot.

 

Jay Gower Taylor – Scenic and Reflective Light Concept Designer

06 JayGowerTaylor byMichaelSlobodianJay Gower Taylor started out in theatre as a professional dancer where he enjoyed an international career spanning more than twenty years. As a scenic designer he has collaborated with Crystal Pite over the last decade, creating onstage environments for works such as Plot Point, Frontier, Solo Echo, Parade, In the Event, Partita for 8 Dancers, and The Statement for Nederlands Dans Theater; Emergence and Angels’ Atlas ( co-production with Zurich Ballet) for the National Ballet of Canada; Polaris for Sadler’s Wells; The Seasons’ Canon and Body and Soul for The Paris Opera Ballet; and Flight Pattern for The Royal Ballet. For Pite’s own company, Kidd Pivot, he designed Dark Matters, The Tempest Replica, Betroffenheit, and most recently, Revisor.

Nancy Bryant – Costume Designer

07 NancyBryantNancy Bryant works widely as a designer in dance, theatre, opera and film. Her home is on the west coast of Canada in Vancouver. Previous collaborations with Pite include Body and Soul and The Seasons’ Canon (Paris Opera), Flight Pattern (Royal Ballet), Partita, Parade and Plot Point (Netherlands Dance Theater), Revisor, The Tempest Replica (Kidd Pivot) and Betroffenheit (Kidd Pivot/Electric Co.); and most recently, Angels’ Atlas (National Ballet of Canada / Zurich Opera House). Bryant’s work has brought her together with various teams of fellow designers, directors, writers and choreographers to theatres and production workshops across Canada, the USA, the UK and to Europe. Her approach to costume design has been influenced by her visual arts background and many years of exceptional collaborations with some of Canada’s most innovative and groundbreaking theatre artists.

Tom Visser – Lighting Designer

08 TomVisser byLaurensBouvrieTom Visser grew up in the countryside of west Ireland. At the age of 18 he started working in music theatre through his theatrical family and in dance through the Nederlands Dans Theater. Since 2005 he has created original designs for choreographers including Crystal Pite, Alexander Ekman, Johan Inger, Stijn Celis, Lukas Timulak, Sharon Eyal, Hofesh Shechter, and more.

Eric Beauchesne – Associate Artistic Director

09 Eric Beauchesne photo©Michael SlobodianBorn in Québec, Eric has been on stage with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe and Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, as well as with Canadian contemporary dance icons such as La Fondation Jean-Pierre Perrault, Paul-André Fortier, Louise Lecavalier and Crystal Pite. Company member since 2004, Eric now collaborates with Kidd Pivot as associate artistic director, and stages Pite’s work on companies worldwide. Eric has served as guest teacher for several organizations as well as rehearsal director for Nederlands Dans Theater. He currently resides in Holland and devotes his spare time advocating for climate action in the dance world.

Brandon Alley – Dancer

15 Brandon AlleyBrandon Lee Alley began his professional career with Hubbard Street 2 followed by one year with BODYTRAFFIC in LA. In 2015, he joined Ballet BC where he had the privilege of dancing many leading roles for 5 seasons. Brandon is also the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Dance//Novella collective based in Vancouver, Canada. In addition to creating dance, Brandon has a passion for sound design. He has made several original scores for dance and is excited to be formalizing his training with an audio engineering diploma from the SAE institute in North Vancouver.

 

Jennifer Florentino – Dancer

16 Jennifer FlorentinoJennifer Florentino, born in Paterson, NJ, is a storyteller with a career that reflects her work in theater, film and dance. She received her BFA in Dance from Point Park University. Upon graduating she had the privilege to perform across the country. Musical Theater: On Your Feet (1st National), Moulin Rouge The Musical (Boston), Evita (Encores). Television/Film: Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, Modern Love, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Isn’t It Romantic, Kennedy Center Honors (Gloria Estefan), SNL. Dance: Deeply Rooted Dance Theater,  Sonya Tayeh’s You’ll Still Call Me By Name and recently worked with Aszure Barton at the LA Opera. Jennifer feels extremely delighted to join the Kidd Pivot family. @jenniferflorentino

Rakeem Hardy – Dancer

18 Rakeem HardyRakeem Hardy, originally from Toronto, Canada, received their BFA and the Thayer Fellowship Award from the State University of New York at Purchase College. Through their time at Purchase, they performed works by Ohad Naharin, Doug Varone, Sidra Bell, Norbert De La Cruz III, and Roderick George. They received additional training at the Taipei National University of the Arts, as well at Springboard Danse Montreal where they performed pieces by Crystal Pite, Alejandro Cerrudo, and Aszure Barton. Rakeem has collaborated and performed with A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Loni Landon Dance Projects, Collectif LA TRESSE, and Gallim Dance.

Doug Letheren – Dancer

11 Doug Letheren photo©Michael SlobodianDoug is a Juilliard graduate and has danced with the Batsheva Dance Company, Sharon Eyal’s L-E-V, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Alan Lucien Øyen’s Winterguests, Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Hell’s Kitchen Dance, Adam Linder, and Kidd Pivot. He is a recipient of the 2007 Movado Future Legends Award, and a 2019 Der Faust German Theater Prize nominee.

Gregory Lau – Dancer

17 Gregory Lau photo©Rahi RezvaniGregory Lau was born in Honolulu, Hawaii where he began his training at Mid-Pacific Institute School of the Arts. After attending The Juilliard School, Gregory joined Nederlands Dans Theater 2 in 2013 and went on to join Nederlands Dans Theater 1 in 2016. In 2019 he joined Kidd Pivot for the production of Revisor. He has been a recipient of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts 1st Award in Modern Dance and Ballet. He has worked with choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eyal, Marco Goecke, Paul Lightfoot & Sol Leon, Hans Van Manen, Johan Inger, Edward Clug, Medhi Walerski, Alexander Ekman, Camille A.Brown and more. Gregory was recently featured in Doja Cat’s 2021 VMAS Performance.

Rena Narumi – Dancer

13 Rena Narumi photo©Michael SlobodianRena was born in Tokyo, Japan. She trained at Centre d’artchoregraphique Franco-Japonais in Paris, France and Arts Umbrella dance graduate program in Vancouver BC,CANADA. She has performed with Kidd Pivot, Hessischen Staatstheaters Wiesbaden, Royal Swedish Ballet (RSB), Nederlands Dans Theater 1 (NDT1). With RSB, she performed the main role of Juliet in “Juliet and Romeo” by Mats Ek. With NDT1, she traveled all over the world to perform.

Ella Rothschild – Dancer

14 Ella Rothschild photo©Michael SlobodianElla Rothschild was born in Israel and is a choreographer, multidisciplinary artist and dancer. Rothschild received the Rosenblum Performing-Arts Award by the city of Tel-Aviv for promising creator of 2016, as well as the ministry of cultural award. In 2017 she received the Israeli Ministry of Culture Award for the best solo performer. Between 2013 to 2022, Ella created and performed eleven of her works in Israel, Europe, Japan, and the US. In 2020 Ella received a residency at Baryshnikov art center (NYC) and was named an artist in residence in the Suzanne Dellal Centre’s inaugural residency program where she created her work Pigulim. In the same year Ella collaborated with the director Kenichi Tani in a new Japanese production The History Of Humankind for the Kanagawa Arts Theatre. In 2021 Ella created Summer snow, on the edge of nowhere, and A Year Without Summer—a trilogy of artworks for the Batsheva Dance Company.

Vivian Ruiz – Dancer

19 Vivian RuizVivian Ruiz was born in Miami, Florida where she began her dance training at the age of 7 and later moved to Vancouver BC in 2019 to attend the Arts Umbrella post-Secondary Program under the direction of Artemis Gordon. While at Arts Umbrella Vivian got to study works by Crystal Pite, Marco Goecke, Medhi Walerski, Nacho Dureto, Victor Quijada, David Raymond, Lesley Telford, Lukas Timulak, Sharon Eyal. This past year Vivian had the opportunity of being a part of the research process for Crystal Pite’s “Animation”.

Renee Sigouin – Dancer

10 Renee Sigouin photo©Michael SlobodianRenée was born in Saskatchewan and moved to Vancouver in 2008. Since graduating from Modus Operandi contemporary dance program in 2012, she has performed in several works with Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY, Company 605, Wen Wei Dance, Mascall Dance, Kinesis Somatheatro & EDAM.  She joined Kidd Pivot in 2018.

Jermaine Spivey – Dancer

12 Jermaine Spivey photo©Michael SlobodianJermaine Maurice Spivey was born in Baltimore, Maryland USA and is a graduate of Baltimore School for the Arts and The Juilliard School. He has performed with Ballet Gulbenkian, Cullberg Ballet, Hofesh Shechter Company, Robyn Live 2016 and The Forsythe Company. Since 2008, Jermaine has been a member of Kidd Pivot. He has staged Crystal Pite’s work for companies such as Cedar Lake Ballet, Carte Blanche, Hessisches StaatsBallett Wiesbaden, Netherlands Dance Theater and Paris Opera Ballet. Jermaine is a 2001 Princess Grace Awardee. He instructs dance for companies, schools and training programs internationally, creates and performs works with partner Spenser Theberge and most recently choreographed a new work(The Seen) for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.

Scott McNeil – Voice Actor

Scott McNeil is an Australian-born Canadian actor and voice actor. He currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One of the most well-known Canadian voice actors of all time, McNeil has provided voices to many characters in animated shows, most notably The Wacky World of Tex Avery, ReBoot, Beast Wars: Transformers, Storm Hawks, Dragon Ball Z, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, InuYasha, Ranma ½, Fullmetal Alchemist, X-Men: Evolution, League of Super Evil and Mega Man. He has done live action work as well.

Kathleen Barr – Voice Actor

Kathleen is one of the voice-over industry’s busiest actors, and has voiced anything and everything from raging zombies to nutty pieces of rebellious fruit. Favourite roles include; Dot (Reboot), Wheezie (Dragon Tales), Trixie (My Little Pony), Kat and Millie (Kid vs Kat), Glorb (Super Monsters), Mom (Johnny Test), Kevin and Marie Kanker (Ed,Edd and Eddy), Misako (Ninjago), Tina, Mavis and Dora (Corner Gas), Maetel (Galaxy Express 999), Laura and tons of characters on Dinosaur Train and Chip and Potato, Yufon and Olin (Supernatural Academy), and a host of Evil Queens in the Barbie movies. Kathleen is thrilled to be a part of the amazing cast and crew of Revisor!

Gerard Plunkett – Voice Actor

Gerard Plunkett’s first role with Kidd Pivot was in The Statement in 2015. He is delighted to voice Dr. Harlow in Revisor. Gerard is a Jessie Richardson and Leo award winner. His theatre work includes Saint Joan, Glengarry Glen Ross, Helen Lawrence and Tear the Curtain!. Among his extensive movie/TV credits are Travelers, Legends of tomorrow, Eight Below, 2012, Sucker Punch, Intelligence, DaVinci’s Inquest, Nightwatching, Snakes on a Plane and Seventh Son.

Ryan Beil – Voice Actor

Ryan Beil is an Actor, Comedian and Writer based out of Vancouver, BC. He holds a BFA in Acting from the University of British Columbia. You can catch him every Sunday performing Improv with the legendary troupe The Sunday Service, which he founded. He is also on TV from time to time when the powers that be allow it. He is incredibly proud to have played a small role in the creation of Revisor and is jealous of all of the dancers’ incredible abilities.

Nicola Lipman – Voice Actor

Selected theatre credits: Humans, Matchmaker, Les Miserables, Driving Miss Daisy (Arts Club), Corleone (Classic Chic), Grey Gardens (Acting Up), Other Desert Cities (Citadel Theatre), King Arthur’s Night (Neworld Theatre), Scorched, Humble Boy, simpl (Tarragon Theatre), All the Way Home (Electric Company), Death of a Salesman (Theatre Calgary), and various film and TV. Nicola is a graduate of the National Theatre School and UBC, and has received four Jessie Awards and the 2012 Queens’ Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Amy Rutherford – Voice Actor

Amy was classically trained at The National Theatre School of Canada and Birmingham Conservatory. For over 20 years, she has worked in TV, film and theatre with many of Canada’s leading directors and writers. In 2020, she received a Toronto Theatre Critics Award for her portrayal of Blanche Dubois in Soulpepper Theatre’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Amy is also an award-winning writer. Her play, Mortified, was recently published by Playwrights Canada Press.

Artemis Gordon

Artemis Gordon Headshot Michael Slobodian squareAn artistic and pedagogical authority in Dance, Artemis Gordon was named Artistic Director of the Arts Umbrella Dance program in 1992 after graduating from the National Ballet School’s Teacher Training Program. Since then, Artemis has developed the program to be internationally recognized for producing graduates who are dancing in companies around the world such as Ballet BC, Nederlands Dans Theatre I & II, Batsheva Dance Company, and many others. Artemis has toured the Arts Umbrella Dance Company to Holland, Italy, Japan, New York, and Montreal and fostered collaborations with Nederlands Dans Theatre, Yokohama Ballet, Spellbound Contemporary Dance, Joffrey Ballet School, and L’Ecole supérieure de ballet du Québec. In 2015, Artemis secured the affiliation between Ballet BC and Arts Umbrella, extending the impact of international choreographers in Vancouver and increasing opportunities for young dancers in Vancouver. Artemis won the 2016 YWCA Women of Distinction award in the Arts, Culture, and Design category. Her vision extends beyond dance, preparing students with skills to navigate their lives with discipline, rigour, and innovation.

Mirna Zagar

Mirna Zagar Photo Steven Lemay 2 squareOriginally from Zagreb, Croatia, Mirna Zagar founded Dance Week Festival and the Institute for Movement and Dance, and the pan-European program: Moving Academy for Performing Arts (NL). As the Executive Director of The Dance Centre since 1998, she contributed to the development of Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver’s home for dance.  The Governor General of Canada presented Mirna with the commemorative medallion for her contributions to cultural relations between Canada and Croatia (2009). Mirna has served on the Board of the Canadian Dance Alliance and the BC Arts Alliance. Mirna continues to engage with international dance as curator, mentor, and adjudicator.

Top photo: Kidd Pivot, Revisor © Michael Slobodian.