Kidd Pivot
Kidd Pivot is a Vancouver-based contemporary dance theatre company founded and led by choreographer Crystal Pite.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
Kidd Pivot is a Canadian contemporary dance theatre company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 2002 by dancer and choreographer Crystal Pite, the company has developed an international reputation for theatrical, multidisciplinary productions that combine highly physical choreography with text, recorded speech, puppetry, masks, visual design and dramatic narrative. Its work is generally created for touring and is presented by theatres, dance festivals and cultural institutions in Canada, the United States, Europe and other international markets. The company emerged through Pite's early choreographic projects, including Uncollected Work in 2003 and Double Story in 2004. These works established interests that continued throughout Kidd Pivot's development: the relationship between movement and language, the instability of identity, the mechanics of performance, and the tension between intimate human experience and large theatrical structures. Double Story, created with Richard Siegal, incorporated text, puppets, masks, mirrors and deliberate disruptions of theatrical convention. A major early turning point came with Lost Action, created after Kidd Pivot received the 2006 Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award. Performed by seven dancers, the work examined war, love and loss and helped position Pite as a choreographer capable of combining formal invention with emotional directness. The company's subsequent works increasingly used elaborate stage worlds. Dark Matters, which premiered in 2009, explored creation, destruction, agency and obsession through a puppet-maker, a marionette and hooded puppet operators. Its structure moved from a strongly narrated first section into a more abstract movement-based second half. From 2010 to 2012, the company was publicly known as Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM while working under a residency partnership with Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and Kulturfonds Frankfurt Rhine-Main. The arrangement supported the creation of The You Show and The Tempest Replica. The You Show consisted of four contrasting duets about conflict, intimacy, identity and communication. The Tempest Replica drew on Shakespeare's The Tempest and used masks, projected text and choreographic manipulation to construct a play-within-a-play. Pite later revised the work, and its 2014 re-staging received an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in 2015. Kidd Pivot's best-known works include Betroffenheit, created with Canadian theatre artist Jonathon Young, and Revisor. Betroffenheit premiered in 2015 and addressed trauma, grief, addiction and the possibility of recovery through a combination of spoken text, live performance, dance and surreal theatrical imagery. The work was connected to Young's experience of losing family members in an accidental fire. It received major recognition, including the 2017 Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production. Revisor, premiered in Vancouver in 2019, was inspired loosely by Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector and used pre-recorded dialogue performed by Canadian actors as a structural and rhythmic component for eight dancers. Kidd Pivot is not a conventional consumer product brand. Its principal offerings are commissioned, produced and toured dance theatre works, supported by performances, residencies, educational activity and artistic collaborations. The company has also emphasized the environmental cost of international touring. In 2015 it introduced 1Day for the Climate, an employee and collaborator initiative in which the value of one day's salary is donated annually to carbon-offsetting and climate-related projects, with the company matching the contributions. The initiative has supported organizations including 350.org, Sierra Club BC and the David Suzuki Foundation, according to the company's published account. The company is led artistically by Crystal Pite and has generally operated with a core ensemble of full-time dancers supplemented by guest artists and collaborators. Its public identity is closely associated with Pite's choreographic language: precise, forceful ensemble movement; cinematic transitions; emotionally charged theatrical situations; and the integration of dance with spoken word, objects, puppetry and visual design. Kidd Pivot remains an active international touring company, although specific current personnel, production schedules and organizational details are not established in the supplied reference material.
History
Kidd Pivot was established in Vancouver in 2002 by Canadian choreographer and dancer Crystal Pite. The company's first full-length production, Uncollected Work, premiered in 2003 and paired investigations of science-fiction imagery, artistic possibility and the creative process with an interest in writing and revision. Double Story followed in 2004 as a collaboration with Richard Siegal. Its use of text, puppets, masks, mirrors and self-conscious theatrical behavior anticipated the company's later fusion of dance and theatre. In 2006, Kidd Pivot received the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award, which helped finance Lost Action. The seven-dancer work focused on war, love and loss and attracted strong attention during subsequent touring, including performances in London. In 2009 the National Film Board of Canada released Trace, a short film based on Lost Action. Dark Matters, which premiered that year at Ottawa's National Arts Centre, expanded Kidd Pivot's theatrical vocabulary through a story about a puppet-maker, a marionette and unseen operators. The work used puppetry and shadow-like stage imagery to consider creation, control, obsession and destruction. A significant institutional phase began in January 2010, when the company entered a residency partnership with Frankfurt's Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and Kulturfonds Frankfurt Rhine-Main. During this period it used the name Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM. The partnership was initially planned for two years and was later extended through 2013. It enabled extended creative periods in Frankfurt and supported The You Show, a four-part collection of duets examining relationship conflict, resemblance, communication and comic role-playing, and The Tempest Replica, a choreographic response to Shakespeare's The Tempest. The latter incorporated masked figures, projected lines and scene references, and a central figure who manipulated the other performers. Pite later revised the production, with a new version premiering in 2014 after her association with Sadler's Wells. Kidd Pivot's collaboration with theatre artist Jonathon Young began with Betroffenheit, premiered in 2015. Young's writing and performance were combined with Pite's choreography to depict a mind caught in cycles of trauma following catastrophic loss. The work moved between a confined industrial setting and a destabilized theatrical world populated by dancers and grotesque entertainment figures. Its treatment of grief, addiction, dissociation and recovery earned substantial critical and institutional recognition, including an Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production in 2017. Revisor, premiered in Vancouver in 2019, became the second major Kidd Pivot–Young collaboration. Loosely drawing on Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, it used recorded dialogue as an external score for the dancers, creating a tightly synchronized relationship between speech, gesture and character. Alongside its artistic development, the company addressed the environmental impact of international touring through 1Day for the Climate, launched in 2015. Employees and collaborators contributed the equivalent of one day's salary, and Kidd Pivot matched the amount for selected climate and carbon-offset projects. The initiative reflected an effort to connect the company's touring model with environmental responsibility. Kidd Pivot's history is therefore characterized by a progression from small-scale choreographic experiments toward large, internationally toured dance theatre productions. Across its major works, the company has retained an emphasis on physical precision while adding spoken language, recorded sound, puppetry, masks, cinematic staging and literary or theatrical source material. Crystal Pite remains the company's founder and artistic director, and Kidd Pivot continues to be identified primarily with her distinctive choreographic and theatrical approach.
- 2019
Revisor premieres
[1]The second Kidd Pivot and Jonathon Young collaboration premieres in Vancouver.
- 2017
Betroffenheit wins an Olivier Award
[1]Betroffenheit receives the Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production.
- 2015
Betroffenheit premieres
[1]Kidd Pivot and Jonathon Young premiere their first major collaboration at the Pan American Games.
- 2010
Frankfurt residency begins
[1]A residency partnership begins in Frankfurt and the company adopts the public name Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM for the supported period.
- 2009
Dark Matters premieres
[1]The company premieres a major puppetry-centered work about creation, control, obsession and destruction.
- 2006
Lost Action is supported by a major arts award
[1]Kidd Pivot receives the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award, supporting the creation of Lost Action.
- 2004
Double Story is created
[1]Crystal Pite and Richard Siegal create a work combining dance with text, puppets, masks, mirrors and relationship-based narrative.
- 2003
Uncollected Work premieres
[1]The company's first full-length work explores science-fiction imagery, artistic possibility and the process of making and destroying written work.
- 2002
Kidd Pivot is founded
[1]Crystal Pite establishes Kidd Pivot in Vancouver as a contemporary dance company.
Products and positioning
An internationally touring contemporary dance theatre company known for psychologically intense, visually elaborate and multidisciplinary productions created under the artistic direction of Crystal Pite.
Dance theatre production · 2003
Uncollected Work
Kidd Pivot's first full-length production, created in 2003 by Crystal Pite. Its two sections address the imaginative possibilities and dangers of science fiction and the destructive editing process involved in artistic creation.
Dance theatre production · 2004
Double Story
A 2004 collaboration between Crystal Pite and Richard Siegal. The work uses two perspectives on a romantic relationship and combines choreography with text, puppets, masks, mirrors and deliberately visible theatrical activity.
Contemporary dance production · 2006
Lost Action
Created with support from the 2006 Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award, Lost Action is a seven-dancer work concerned with war, love and loss. Its touring performances helped establish Kidd Pivot's international profile.
Dance theatre production · 2009
Dark Matters
A 2009 production inspired by the idea of dark matter and focused on loneliness, obsession and the danger of creation. A puppet-maker, marionette and concealed operators anchor a theatrical structure that shifts from narrative to abstraction.
Dance theatre production · 2010
The You Show
Created during the Frankfurt residency, The You Show consists of four duets exploring conflict, resemblance, communication and romantic role-playing. Its sections range from intimate spoken physical instructions to comic superhero imagery and the sound of breaking glass.
Dance theatre production · 2011
The Tempest Replica
A choreographic reworking of Shakespeare's The Tempest, using masks, projected excerpts, manipulated performers and a play-within-a-play structure. A revised version premiered in 2014 and received an Olivier Award in 2015.
Dance theatre production · 2015
Betroffenheit
Created with Jonathon Young, Betroffenheit combines recorded and live theatre with choreography to represent trauma, grief, addiction, dissociation and recovery. Its two-part structure contrasts a confined psychological space with a surreal performance world.
Dance theatre production · 2019
Revisor
Premiere work for eight dancers created with Jonathon Young and loosely inspired by Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector. Recorded dialogue by Canadian actors functions as a tightly timed vocal score for the dancers' movement and characterization.
Marketing campaigns
- 20151Day for the Climate
International touring operations
Kidd Pivot created an employee and collaborator initiative to acknowledge the emissions associated with international touring. Participants donate the equivalent of one day's salary each year, and the company matches the contributions for climate and carbon-offset projects.
Outcome. The initiative has supported projects and organizations including 350.org, Sierra Club BC and the David Suzuki Foundation. The supplied reference states that more than 400 tonnes of CO2e had been offset since 2015.
Brand decisions
2015
Adopt a climate-offset touring initiativeStrategyBackground
The company recognized that its international touring schedule created a substantial environmental footprint.
Action taken
Kidd Pivot launched 1Day for the Climate, combining employee and collaborator donations with matching contributions from the company.
Aftermath
Funds were directed to climate and carbon-offset projects, with the supplied reference reporting more than 400 tonnes of CO2e offset since launch.
2010
Enter a Frankfurt residency partnershipStrategyBackground
Kidd Pivot sought an extended institutional base for creation and presentation in Europe through a partnership with Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and Kulturfonds Frankfurt Rhine-Main.
Action taken
The company worked in Frankfurt for extended periods and temporarily used the name Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM in recognition of the support.
Aftermath
The relationship supported The You Show and The Tempest Replica and was extended beyond its originally planned two-year term.
Recent events
- 2019
Revisor premieres in Vancouver[1]
Product launch
The company premiered Revisor, a work for eight dancers inspired by Gogol and structured around recorded dialogue by Canadian actors.
- 2015
Kidd Pivot launches 1Day for the Climate[1]
Campaign
The company and its employees began donating the equivalent of one day's salary, with company matching, to climate and carbon-offset projects associated with international touring.
- 2015
Betroffenheit premieres at the Pan American Games[1]
Product launch
Kidd Pivot premiered its first collaboration with Jonathon Young, a multidisciplinary work addressing trauma, grief, addiction and recovery.
- 2010
Kidd Pivot begins Frankfurt residency partnership and adopts the name Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM[1]
Other
A residency relationship with Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and Kulturfonds Frankfurt Rhine-Main supported the company's work in Frankfurt and led to a temporary public-name change.
- 2006
Kidd Pivot receives the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award[1]
Other
The award supported the creation of Lost Action, an important early full-length work for the company.
Sources2 sources
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