Crystal Pite wins Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award

Acclaimed choreographer and performer Crystal Pite, artistic director of Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM, has been awarded the fifth annual Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award. This award recognizes exceptional visionary talent and is accompanied by a $25,000 prize, as well as a custom-designed glass sculpture by renowned artist Tom Patti, which Pite will receive at the Jacob’s Pillow Season Opening Gala on June 18th. Ella Baff, executive and artistic director of Jacob’s Pillow, commented in a press release that “Crystal is one of the most talented, intelligent, and original dancemakers to come along in recent years … She is respected and admired by the dance field throughout the world, and each of her creations is something unexpected and deeply imaginative.” Pite is a former dancer of Ballet British Columbia and the Frankfurt Ballet. She founded Kidd Pivot in 2001, which is currently the resident company at Kunstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt. She was also resident choreographer for Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal from 2001 through 2004, and has choreographed for numerous companies, such as Nederlands Dans Theater I, Cullberg Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, Ceder Lake Contemporary Ballet, Alberta Ballet and Ballet Jörgen Canada.