DARK MATTERS choreography by Crystal Pite for KIDD PIVOT-FRANKFURT RM Reviewed by Miguel Romero Puppetry has always been

dance-friendly and vice versa. The Nutcraker and La boutique Fantasque among other ballets utilize the object coming to life trope. There was Coppelia, a doll brought to life to become the love of both her maker and the boy next door. Dr. Frankenstein, whose tale has been waiting just around the corner to join the list, now has arrived. Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM, the German/ Canadian company led by dancerchoreographer Crystal Pite, and seen at Jacobs Pillow in July integrates puppetry and dance in whole new direction. It brilliantly uses a puppet by Robert Lewis in Dark Matters, but to a decidedly less-than-friendly end. We know that something will go terribly wrong from the moment that the electronic soundscape by Owen Belton opens with a mood of menace and tension. Dim lights come up, we see a table in the center of a box evoking a room made of cardboard with panels sketched in charcoal. An artist/creator fiddles around with bits of cardboard that eventually become a 30 tall generic figure. This fully articulated puppet body is made of flat pieces of unpainted wood but with no controls. The mans attempt to transform this puppet into an image of himself backfires. Suddenly the puppets double (now fitted with long rods) is brought to life by four dancer/puppeteers. No type of physical violence is left undone by this rage-filled monster. The dancers manipulation of the puppet is breathtaking. They wear hooded blacks, are fully visible and use 4 long rods from behind. The puppet truly lives and owns the entire stage space. There is heartstopping interaction between the maker and puppet that never flags in its excitement and theatricality. The puppet walks, runs, leaps, flies, miraculously endowed by the puppeteers with a forceful will and determination to destroy its creator. Finally, the puppet tears off the fabric walls of the set whose steel frame comes crashing down with full force obliterating the puppet maker. As the dust settles all the performers exit leaving a disaster area. Although the dance piece continues after an intermission, the story ends.