Premiere of Body and Soul, choreographed by Vancouver’s own Crystal Pite, and performed by the Paris Opera Ballet. Following the phenomenal success of The Seasons’ Canon in 2016, Pite was invited back in 2019 to create a full-length work for thirty-six dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet.
A work in three distinct parts, Body and Soul articulates Pite’s ongoing fascination with conflict, connectedness and the embodiment of the human spirit. The performance begins with voice-over text that describes, in purely physical terms, a scene of conflict between two individuals.
As the performance progresses, the script’s meaning morphs and deepens with each iteration: conflict creates a vital, compelling tension between individuals, between groups, between species. The company’s mastery as an ensemble is evident in Pite’s complex choreographic swarms; individual dancers are virtuosic in breathtaking solos and duets. The dancers evoke scenes of epic protest, profound personal struggle, and collective survival. Body and Soul is a portrait of the human condition that is timeless, vast and heartbreakingly intimate.
It’s unity, however, that I’m really looking for. Everything I do stems from a desire to connect with people, and to connect people with each other.
Crystal Pite
Canadian choreographer and performer Crystal Pite is a former company member of Ballet British Columbia and William Forsythe‘s Ballett Frankfurt. Pite’s professional choreographic debut was in 1990, at Ballet British Columbia. Since then, she has created over 40 works for companies such as Nederlands Dans Theater I, Cullberg Ballet, Ballett Frankfurt, The National Ballet of Canada, BJM – Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal (Resident Choreographer, 2001-2004), Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, and Louise Lecavalier/Fou Glorieux. She has also collaborated with Electric Company Theatre and Robert Lepage. Crystal is Associate Choreographer of Nederlands Dans Theater I and Associate Dance Artist of Canada’s National Arts Centre. In 2013, Crystal was appointed Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells, London.
Owen Belton (Composer), Eric Beauchesne (Assistant to the Choreographer), Nancy Bryant (Costume Designer), Jay Gower Taylor (Set Designer), Jermaine Spivey (Assistant to the Choreographer) and Tom Visser (Lighting Designer).