Crsytal Pite Flight Pattern

 At the very beginning of this section of flight pattern, we see a dancer facing the back, cradling something in her arms that would make you assume it was a baby, when she turns to face the front, we soon see this is not the case as she is just cradling a piece of clothing. The fact she holds an empty piece of clothing in such a caring yet distressing way to me suggests maybe she is mourning the death of her child or struggling with separation between herself and a loved one. The whole way through I could only describe the girls’ actions and facial expressions as distraught, she is constantly looking around as if in panic, it could be that she is trying to find someone or escape from something, but it is clear she is fraught.

She also begins very low to the ground, with a lot of deep plies and floorwork, and she seems very grounded, as if she can’t bring herself back up. When she starts to stand up and fully extend her body, I noticed that soon after, she throws away the clothing in despair and when she does it comes across to me that she is made weaker. Soon after we see a duet partner join in the routine, he begins to look as if he is supporting her, and there is again a lot of transference of weight involved which I find is interesting as I found crystal Pite uses this a lot in a few of her other pieces. There are moments where the girl looks as if she is falling possibly losing consciousness ect, and he will catch her make sure to be there to bring her back standing. Throughout the partner work we see, I would also say there are possibly some moments of tension, and it would seem as if they were fighting against each other, yet they always stay close. This could suggest they are going through something difficult, and that may bring them to aggression and upset but they remember that they always must get through it together.

The lighting all throughout this piece is dark with just one bright white light shining on the centre of the stage at the dancers. This could perhaps suggest that whatever they were experiencing wasn’t happening in the daytime and that it was during the night, this could be because it is secretive or even showing signs of insomnia that could be caused by traumatic and dark, maybe even sinister experiences.

I think Crystal Pite really wants the audience to understand or possibly relate to the desolation clearly visible in this piece, however to me it is clear that the desperation and sorrow that these characters are feeling isn’t something caused by usual everyday life ups and downs, its distinctly a lot worst, and could possibly be caused by the death of loved one, or a significant negative change in their life.

                      (Crystal Pite, 2017)

Bibliography:

The Royal Opera House, 2019. Flight Pattern - Crystal Pite. [video] Available at: <https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GrNfZ6pCn9M> [Accessed 1 December 2021].

Crystal Pite, 2017. Group of Dancers in Flight Pattern. [image] Available at: <https://www.google.com/search?q=flight+pattern+crystal+pite&client> [Accessed 3 December 2021].