Assembly Hall, a Kidd Pivot Production, is a brilliantly orchestrated hybrid of dance and theatre

October 24, 2023 – OTTAWA (Canada) – Sure to be a hot ticket this season, Assembly Hall comes to Babs Asper Theatre from November 2 to 4.

From the team that created the ground-breaking, award-winning productions of Revisor and Betroffenheit — which The Guardian hailed as “the best dance work of the 21^st century” — comes Kidd Pivot’s latest offering 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.

Eight superb performers are brought together in this new work that explores our need for a sense of togetherness and belonging. In a setting somewhere between a community hall and a mythical kingdom, audiences will witness the joys and pitfalls of devoted like-mindedness and the pain of exile.

Crystal Pite’s bold and original vision has earned her international acclaim and inspired a generation of dance artists. In 2002, she founded Kidd Pivot and made it her mission to translate universal issues into works of art that connect to deep and essential parts of our humanity. More than 50 creations later, Crystal continues her commitment to refine the universal language of dance.

“I’m inspired by things that can’t be measured or understood. What interests me is the human spirit and how we connect to each other.”

— Crystal Pite, Choreographer 

“NAC Dance audiences won’t want to miss Crystal Pite’s return to Babs Asper Theatre with this new collaboration with Jonathon Young. Assembly Hall is an incredibly dynamic performance with characters that are larger-than-life. These two co-creators are master storytellers, and we are in for a treat.”

— Caroline Ohrt, Executive Producer, NAC Dance

“Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young’s collaboration is legendary. They are one of the few two-time recipients of Creation Fund investments, a testament to the rigour and ambition of their work. In Assembly Hall, Pite and Young playfully invite us to consider the stakes of our need to be together, in a vital exploration of human belonging.”

— Sarah Conn, Acting Artistic Producer, National Creation Fund 

Assembly Hall is an NAC co-production and was developed with support from the NAC's National Creation Fund.

This performance includes English-only dialogue that is integral to the work's narrative. 

Click here to download photos and videos.  


SHOW AND TICKET INFORMATION

Babs Asper Theatre
November 2 - 4, 7:30 p.m.
Pre-show chat at 6:30 p.m. on November 2, Peter A, Herrndorf Place

Duration: 90 minutes, no intermission.

To purchase tickets, visit nac-cna.ca/en/event/33704 or call 1-844-985-2787 (ARTS). To learn more about the NAC’s building and facilities before you arrive, click: nac-cna.ca/en/visit. 

Visit the NAC website to learn more about the 2023–2024 NAC Dance season. 


THANK YOU TO OUR NAC DANCE SPONSORS 

NAC Dance and the NAC Foundation would like to thank the donors and partners who have made the season possible. Thank you to our Hotel Partner, the Lord Elgin Hotel. The role of Executive Producer, NAC Dance is generously supported by an anonymous donor. 

ABOUT 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 1,000 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), enabling it to be one of the first dance companies to tour carbon neutral.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE 

The National Arts Centre (NAC) is Canada’s bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for the performing arts. The NAC presents, creates, produces, and co-produces performing arts programming in various streams — the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety — and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada. The NAC is located in the National Capital Region on the unceded territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. 


FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Alexandra Campeau

Communications Strategist, NAC Dance
613-668-2736
alexandra.campeau@nac-cna.ca