Kidd Pivot’s Assembly Hall to shine at Edinburgh International Festival: An Interview with Renée Sigouin

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As the Edinburgh International Festival approaches, the anticipation is palpable for fans of innovative dance theatre. Among the highlights this year is the Scottish Premiere of Kidd Pivot’s Assembly Hall, a spellbinding creation by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young. Known for their Olivier Award-winning productions, Kidd Pivot blends storytelling with dynamic movement, captivating audiences worldwide. In Assembly Hall, a medieval re-enactment society convenes to discuss their dire financial straits, before careering into a far higher stakes magical realist adventure. Sounds bonkers and fascinating, right?

I had the privilege of putting a few questions to Saskatchewan-born dancer Renée Sigouin, a core member of the company since 2018, before their acclaimed UK Premiere at Sadler’s Wells earlier this year. As you gear up for the August madness, join us for an inside look at what will be one of the highlights of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival…

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In Assembly Hall, you explore the theme of medieval re-enactments clashing with modern dilemmas. Do you relate to this intertwining of past and present in your role, and has it influenced your performance?

When I think about time and my physical experience of dance, I think about the past as all of the memories and experiences that live in my body, the present as my sensations in the moment, and the future as my desires which propel me into motion, or motivate me to set something into motion. Whether I’m improvising or performing a role, I feel like I’m always moving between these states of awareness.

In this particular show, we are moving back and forth between the mundane world of the AGM, their epic re-enactor ‘alter egos’, and a third mythical, dream-like plane of reality. I like to think about the past experiences, present sensations, and future desires of my character and what those things would be through the lens or mask of that character, and that maybe there is sometimes a slippage between the character role and my real self. It’s an exciting challenge to move back and forth between hyper-stylized and more naturalistic physicalities in order to tell the story.

For the medieval re-enactor parts of the show, we were inspired by a wealth of art references gathered by Crystal’s costume designer Nancy Bryant and visual artist collaborator Cybele Young, scenes from films, medieval tales, and everyone has their own personal sources of inspiration and research for their characters.

Working with Kidd Pivot and under the creative guidance of Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young offers a blend of dance and theatre. Has this experience, particularly in a production like Assembly Hall, contributed to your growth as an artist?

Something that I’ve been able to practice specifically with Crystal and Jon has been to analyze a script in order to build a character’s physicality while keeping in mind what I know about the creators’ aesthetic interests and how I can bring my own ideas and skills to that.

Assembly Hall delves deep into themes of community and belonging. Reflecting on your own journey in the dance world, how do you see the concept of community?

I see community as a source of support and a place of belonging, something to contribute to, a place/archive where shared histories live.

The narrative of Assembly Hall is built around a group facing potential dissolution. This seems unfortunately relevant to the ever more challenging economics of producing performing art, does this resonate with you?

I see it more as our contemporary longing to find connection and relationship in a world that is increasingly individualistic. I see it as a metaphor that to be alive means to be facing death.  I also see “facing dissolution” as a season in nature, within oneself, or in a relationship with someone or something you love deeply etc., something with an emergence and an ending that brings transformation and reconfiguration.

Given your diverse background with various dance companies before joining Kidd Pivot, how do you bring your experiences and skills to such a collaborative and innovative environment?

Improvising, working through the discomfort of the unknown or not being good at something right away, and crafting movement for yourself are all skills that you hone over the course of a dance career, and are all essential things to bring to a collaborative creative process. 

I love to read and I watch a lot of TV and films. Almost everything that comes up in rehearsal makes me think of or remember something else that I can reference or draw inspiration from in a novel, short story, poem, film, or other artwork that I’ve witnessed.

I’ve worked a lot with puppeteering/manipulating objects and building physicality for characters throughout my career, these are things that I love to do and can continue working on with Crystal and Jon in their process.

Assembly Hall promises a production filled with Kidd Pivot’s signature wit and invention. Is comedy something you appreciate as a performer? 

I do love the comedic aspects of Crystal and Jon’s work (in the writing and in the physicality), and of course it’s so much fun to share laughter with each other during the creation period/rehearsals as well as with an audience. I think it’s an important counterpoint to darker moments in a work that explores themes of humanity, life, death, love, grief, connection and isolation.

“…it’s so much fun to share laughter with each other during the creation period/rehearsals as well as with an audience.”

Who have been the formative or inspirational figures in your own life, professional or otherwise?

Some of my biggest artistic mentors have been Tiffany Tregarthen & David Raymond (Out Innerspace Dance Theatre) and Paraskevas Terezakis (Kinesis Dance Somatheatro) with whom I worked with for over a decade on many creations in their dance/physical theatre companies.

I learned so much from training with Peter Bingham, one of the pioneers of Contact Improvisation and founder of EDAM (Experimental Dance and Music) in Vancouver. I remember one of the first classes I ever took from him in 2012, he demonstrated something with me in the air (when I had no idea what I was doing), and it felt so clear and effortless that it was like I experienced some truth about dance and the universe. That feeling remains something I try to stay open to recognizing when it shows up, in life and on stage.

Crystal and Jon are a dream team. I’m so inspired by their process, their creativity and vision, care for their collaborators, their stamina to work through the mysteries of making a new show. I feel so grateful to have had the chance to be a part of the last two creations with them.

As a dancer, you’re constantly evolving and taking on new challenges. Looking at your journey and the themes of Assembly Hall, how do you envision the evolution of dance as a medium for storytelling, and what role do you hope to play in it moving forward?

I don’t think that dance needs to be a medium for story-telling in a narrative sense, but dance is made of us so it will always be an expression of our humanity. In that sense, I hope that dance continues to reveal to us who we are and to be a poetic expression of our life force as time goes on and we experience change. My own personal interests do lie at the intersection of dance and theatre, and I hope to continue exploring these things through whatever is next for me.

Let’s close with something a little different. Renée Sigouin, as an artist what gives you life?

I’m currently reading Patti Smith’s Just Kids. I’ve been meaning to read it ever since it was published, but as these things so often happen, I’m encountering it just at the right time in my life.

Clarice Lispector is another writer that gives me life, I want to dance the way her language spills on to the page and takes on an uncontainable form that is larger than life.

Nature, friends and family, cooking, films, my nephews, conversations, music, solitude, swimming in the sea, live theatre and dance.

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For tickets, and more information on Assembly Hall at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, click here.

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