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''Flight Pattern'' is a one-act [[contemporary ballet]] performed in 30 minutes.<ref name=Watts>{{cite news|url=https://bachtrack.com/review-light-passage-crystal-pite-gorecki-royal-ballet-october-2022|title=Hauntingly beautiful: Crystal Pite's Light of Passage at The Royal Ballet|work=Bachtrack|last=Watts|first=Graham|date=19 October 2022|access-date=2023-04-10|archive-date=5 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221105153100/https://bachtrack.com/review-light-passage-crystal-pite-gorecki-royal-ballet-october-2022|url-status=live}}</ref> The music inspired the structure of the [[choreography]], with a long and slow [[crescendo]] that transitions to a single voice. [[Crystal Pite]], the choreographer of this piece, mimicked this structure in the creative process. She focused first on the large scale of the crisis, then on a singular story. Pite felt that an emotional connection with a single story would be more impactful to the audience than many dancers on stage.<ref name=Winship>{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/arts/crystal-pite-on-responding-to-the-refugee-crisis-working-at-the-royal-ballet-and-the-purpose-of-art-a3477506.html|title=Crystal Pite on responding to the refugee crisis, working at the Royal Ballet and the purpose of art|newspaper=Evening Standard|last=Winship|first=Lyndsey|date=28 February 2017|access-date=2023-04-10|archive-date=31 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831223924/https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/arts/crystal-pite-on-responding-to-the-refugee-crisis-working-at-the-royal-ballet-and-the-purpose-of-art-a3477506.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
The piece begins with 36 dancers arranged in three equal rows, standing in profile to the audience and staring at a light while rocking in packed rows.<ref name=Monahan /><ref name=Jennings /><ref name="OBrien">{{Cite news |last=O'Brien |first=Roisin |date=2020-11-30 |title=Review: Crystal Pite taps into current questions of connection, understanding and culpability in Flight Pattern |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/reviews/article-crystal-pite-taps-into-current-questions-of-connection-understanding/ |access-date=2023-04-10 |archive-date=24 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724020648/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/reviews/article-crystal-pite-taps-into-current-questions-of-connection-understanding/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The dancers then move in [[Canon (music)|canon]], their spines extending and rotating to cause their heads to look back, then forward in a bow.{{sfn|Golomb|2023|pp=310-311}} Vignettes of choreography are then performed by various dancers who break away from the ensemble to perform solos, duets, or small group choreography.<ref name="Mackrell">{{Cite news |last=Mackrell |first=Judith |date=2017-03-17 |title=Royal Ballet triple bill review – gripping vision of the refugee crisis |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/mar/17/royal-ballet-triple-bill-review-refugee-crisis-crystal-pite-christopher-wheeldon-david-dawson |access-date=2023-04-09
[[Image:Marcelino Sambé at USAIBC2010.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=See caption|[[Marcelino Sambé]], pictured here in 2010, was one of the soloists in the original performance of this piece.]]
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[[Image:Crystal Pite.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=See caption|[[Crystal Pite]], pictured here in 2010, was the choreographer of ''Flight Pattern'']]
The Royal Ballet commissioned what would become ''Flight Pattern'' in 2014, which was Pite's first piece for the company.<ref name=Winship />{{sfn|Piquero Álvarez|2021|p=462}} While listening to possible music selections, focusing on [[contemporary classical music]], she was thinking about the ongoing [[2015 European migrant crisis|European migrant crisis]].<ref name="Monahan 2017">{{Cite news |last=Monahan |first=Mark |date=2017-03-14 |title=Choreographer Crystal Pite: 'I'm not putting this on stage as a political act' |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/dance/ballet/choreographer-crystal-pite-creative-young-women-often-have-get/ |access-date=2023-04-09
Pite chose to work with a large ensemble for this piece to showcase complex choreography with simpler movement. At the beginning of the creation process, Pite created movement phrases before the rehearsals and taught them to the dancers; Lucía Piquero Álvarez, a professor at the [[University of Malta]], speculated in her analysis of the piece that the motif sequence was taught during this time.{{sfn|Piquero Álvarez|2021|p=462}}
Nancy Bryant designed identical grey costumes in the performance;<ref name=Jennings /><ref name=Anderson /> the dancers begin wearing grey coats,<ref name=Watts /> but these are later taken off to reveal grey vests and loose trousers underneath.<ref name=Jennings />{{sfn|Piquero Álvarez|2021|p=461}}<ref name=Anderson /> Jay Gower Taylor designed the sets,<ref name=Anderson>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/flight-pattern-the-royal-ballet-royal-opera-house-review-crystal-pite-flight-pattern-canadian-a7638246.html|title=Flight Pattern, The Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House, London, review: It has immense scale and ambition|newspaper=The Independent|last=Anderson|first=Zoë|date=19 March 2017|access-date=2023-04-10|archive-date=29 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429022507/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/flight-pattern-the-royal-ballet-royal-opera-house-review-crystal-pite-flight-pattern-canadian-a7638246.html|url-status=live}}</ref> with dark panels that open and close throughout the performance<ref name="Sulcas">{{Cite news |last=Sulcas |first=Roslyn |date=2022-10-21 |title=In London, Massed Human Misery and Communal Revelations |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/21/arts/dance/crystal-pite-royal-ballet-gregory-maqoma-ballet-black.html |access-date=2023-04-07
==Performances==
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''Flight Pattern'' was revived in May 2019, with McNally and Sambé reprising their roles. It was performed as the third act in a triple bill, succeeding the choreographer [[Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui]]'s ''Medusa'' and Wheeldon's ''Within the Golden Hour''.<ref name="Winship 2019">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/may/09/royal-ballet-within-the-golden-hour-medusa-flight-pattern-review-royal-opera-house|title=Royal Ballet: Within the Golden Hour / Medusa / Flight Pattern review – monsters and melancholy|newspaper=The Guardian|last=Winship|first=Lyndsey|date=9 May 2019|access-date=2023-04-10|archive-date=27 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200827172443/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/may/09/royal-ballet-within-the-golden-hour-medusa-flight-pattern-review-royal-opera-house|url-status=live}}</ref> A performance was recorded and published on the Royal Ballet website, and available for purchase until December 2020.<ref name="OBrien" />
After finishing choreographing ''Flight Pattern'', Pite was invited by [[Kevin O'Hare]], the director of the Royal Ballet, to choreograph other new works for the company. Instead, Pite stated that she wanted to extend ''Flight Pattern'' by choreographing to the rest of Górecki's symphony.<ref name="Lister">{{Cite news |last=Lister |first=Kate |date=2022-10-18 |title=Crystal Pite: 'There's an optimism in gathering together and creating something' |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/culture/crystal-pite-interview-b2202191.html |access-date=2023-04-09 |archive-date=2 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102072843/https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/culture/crystal-pite-interview-b2202191.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Swain 2022">{{Cite news |last=Swain |first=Marianka |date=2022-10-07 |title=Royal Ballet's Crystal Pite: ‘Through dance, I’m able to express the inexpressible’ |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/dance/ballet/royal-ballets-crystal-pite-creating-dance-trying-express-inexpressible/ |access-date=2024-08-06 |work=The Telegraph
==Themes and analysis==
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| rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name=Monahan />
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''Flight Pattern'' received mostly positive reviews. Pite's choreography of the 36 dancers was described by Graham Watts in ''[[Bachtrack]]'' as "beautiful"<ref name="Watts 2017">{{Cite news |last=Watts |first=Graham |title=The Royal Ballet: The Human Seasons/ After the Rain / Flight Pattern |work=Bachtrack |url=https://bachtrack.com/review-royal-ballet-human-seasons-after-the-rain-flight-pattern-royal-opera-house-london-march-2017 |access-date=2023-04-11 |archive-date=11 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411181830/https://bachtrack.com/review-royal-ballet-human-seasons-after-the-rain-flight-pattern-royal-opera-house-london-march-2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> and Martha Schabas in ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' as a "visually breathtaking work of art".<ref name="Schabas 2017" /> Reviewers differed on the emotional impact of the piece: some thought it was impactful<ref name=Crompton /><ref name="Winship 2019" /> and that the choreography avoided abstract and metaphorical movement to a positive effect<ref name="Schabas 2017">{{Cite news |last=Schabas |first=Martha |date=March 18, 2017 |title=Cleared for Takeoff |page=R9 |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2459666367 |access-date=2023-04-11
Reviewers highlighted the 18-year gap since the Royal Ballet commissioned work from a female choreographer.<ref name=Jennings /><ref name="Mackrell" /><ref name="Winship Review 2017" /> They also pointed out that ''Flight Pattern''{{'}}s contemporary ballet style is different from the classical ballet that the company often performs in its [[repertoire]] and from the other dances performed in the same program.<ref name=Jennings /><ref name="Schabas 2017" /> [[Luke Jennings]], writing for ''[[The Guardian]]'', stated that ''Flight Pattern'' had an inquiry and feeling that was missing from the other, classical pieces.<ref name=Jennings /> Kat Lister stated in ''[[The Independent]]'' that the performance at Royal Opera House, a ___location considered a classical venue, made the piece more impactful to the audience.<ref name="Lister" /> The subject matter of the choreography, highlighting the European migrant crisis, was also questioned by some reviewers. They felt that the topic negatively distracted them from the artistic achievements of the ballet.<ref name="Sulcas" />
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