VIDF presents new Choreographic Award

>> by Samantha Mehra

The Vancouver International Dance Festival (VIDF) recently announced its inaugural Choreographic Award, which recognizes (biennially) outstanding artistic achievement in choreography. On March 5th, 2013, Michelle Olson, artistic director of the Vancouver-based Raven Spirit Dance, was presented with the first award in recognition of her choreographies, which were influenced by the culture of the Yukon Territory’s Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in peoples. The VIDF, a festival that features local, national and international contemporary dance artists, ran from March 2nd through 23rd, 2013.

More: vidf.ca

Round dances used in Idle No More

Idle No More on Parliament Hill / Photo by Nadya Kwandibens/Red Works

>> by Naomi Brand 
The ongoing Idle No More (INM) protest movement has brought flash mob round dances to streets, shopping malls and public spaces across Canada over the past couple of months. The protest movement led by First Nations in response to the Harper government’s Bill C-45 has garnered the support of many artists including Santee Smith, artistic director of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre. "The flash mob round dances we are seeing as a part of INM comes from Powwow Intertribal, meaning all Nations are welcomed and encouraged to dance," says Smith who is actively involved in the INM movement. “For me the round dance represents a kinetic and spiritual commitment to unity and harmony. To dance you must commit to the energy of the circle, make contact by holding hands, witness others around the circle, unify to the heartbeat pulse of the drum and power of the song. It makes sense at this time of Indigenous awakening and resurgence that the round dances have become a significance part of the movement.” Hundreds of musicians, writers, theatre artists and dancers have signed the Canadian Artists Statement of Solidarity written by Winnipeg musician John K Samson calling for "healthy, just, equitable, and sustainable communities."

More: www.idlenomore.ca

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Canadian-Artists-Statement-of-Solidarity-with-Idle-No-More/317069378411312

Kaha:wi Dance Theatre brings together dance and lacrosse

Performers Danny Vyse, Shayne Martell, Jared Robillard, Vaughn Harris in The Creator's Game.
Photo by Elizabeth Thipphawong

>> by Naomi Brand

Kaha:wi Dance Theatre Artistic Director Santee Smith was commissioned to choreograph a new contemporary work combining lacrosse and dance. The Creator's Game was a three-way co-production between Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, the O’Kaadenigan Wiingashk Collective and Public Energy for this year's Ode’min Giizis Festival. The piece integrates movement from contemporary dance, traditional Haudenesaune (Iroquois) dance and the athleticism of lacrosse, while honoring the spiritual and cultural significance of the sport. The work was performed by a company of professional dancers and Six Nations lacrosse players with an original musical score composed by Derek Miller. Leading up to the festival, a ten-minute excerpt of The Creator's Game was performed before a lacrosse game at the Peterborough Memorial Centre with over 3,000 lacrosse fans in attendance. "Our idea was to bridge, or weave together the sporting community with the arts community," said Patti Shaughnessy, director of the Ode’min Giizis Festival. The final presentation of The Creator's Game took place outside, as part of the Traditional Gathering of the festival and was free to the public. The Ode’min Giizis Festival is a multi-disciplinary indigenous arts festival that takes place in Peterborough, Ontario, each June around the time of National Aboriginal Day.
http://okw-arts.ca/festival/
www.kahawidance.org

Red Sky's Sandra Laronde earns honorary degree

>> by Brittany Duggan
Sandra Laronde, founder and artistic director of Red Sky Performance, has been chosen to receive an honorary degree from Trent University. Dr. Steven E. Franklin, Trent’s president, will honour Laronde for her contribution to society through her work in contemporary indigenous performing arts. As well as being founding artistic director of Red Sky, Laronde is the director of Indigenous Arts at the Banff Centre, and has been an instrumental leader in creating links with First Peoples, culturally diverse, world indigenous peoples and mainstream communities. Past honours include the Ontario Good Citizenship Medal, the Paul D. Fleck Fellowship in the Arts and the Toronto City Council’s 2004 Aboriginal Affairs Award. Laronde will be honoured at Trent’s forty-fourth convocation ceremonies on June 1st; the other honorary degree recipients are The Right Honourable Kim Campbell, former prime minister of Canada; children's rights activist Craig Kielburger; visual artist and biologist Rick Beaver; and electrical engineer and paralympian Lauren Woolstencroft.

Blackfoot dance history returned to the community

>> by Naomi Brand
On June 21st, coinciding with National Aboriginal Day, a large piece of traditional Blackfoot (Kainai) knowledge was handed back to the community in a most un-traditional way. A collection of interviews about Blackfoot culture and traditional dances generated through the work of a group of researchers was handed over to the Blackfoot community in the form of CDs and DVDs. The interviews are a part of a five-year-long project by University of Lethbridge researchers Lisa Doolittle (theatre arts) and Troy Emery Twigg (Native American Studies) and University of Calgary's Anne Flynn (dance) entitled "Blackfoot Dance History: Selected Perspectives". Beginning with the criminalization of indigenous dances such as sun dances and give-away ceremonies, which were made illegal through changes to Canada's Indian Act in the late 1800s, the researchers looked at various forms of Blackfoot dance from the perspective of several elders and young people in Southern Alberta Blackfoot communities. "To us as outsiders, the resilience of this community in the face of multiple assaults on their way of life is most striking, and that resilience is powerfully expressed in the unbroken practice of dance ceremonies, and in the immense popularity of dance competitions and in contemporary artistic expression," says Doolittle. The materials will be housed in the Blackfoot Digital Library at Red Crow College and will also be made accessible to the public through the University of Lethbridge library. The research is part of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada–funded investigation into dance and multiculturalism in Canada.

School programs with the Dancers of Damelahamid

>> Brittany Duggan
On February 1st and 2nd, the Dancers of Damelahamid, an Aboriginal dance collective from the northwest coast of British Columbia, invited students from kindergarten to grade twelve to participate in their school programs at the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology. On February 3rd, the group performed a matinee for schools with an evening performance on February 4th at the Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver. All performances, including one in Whistler on February 14th, were part of We yah hani nah Coastal First Nations Dance Festival 2010, an event the Dancers of Damelahamid hosted to present the rich diversity of traditional indigenous dance groups from the northwest coast.

Tantoo Cardinal receives the Order of Canada

>> by Brittany Duggan
Vancouver actress Tantoo Cardinal was recently made a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honours. The announcement, released on December 30th, 2009, by the Rt. Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, recognizes Cardinal for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing arts in Canada. As a screen and stage actress, Cardinal has been a role model for Aboriginal performers throughout the country and in 2007/08 she joined Kaha:wi Dance Theatre for its production of A Story Before Time, originating the role of "Kateri". Recipients of the Order of Canada, who are acknowledged for their outstanding achievements and dedication to the community, will be invited to a ceremony at a date yet to be announced.

Aboriginal Summer Dance Events

>> by Christa Lochead
This summer saw the launch of two new contemporary Aboriginal dance events and the return of an Aboriginal arts festival. In June, the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts hosted Canada's first International Indigenous Choreographers Summit, a two-week dance residency that brought thirteen dancers from Canada and Mexico together with four international choreographers for an intensive collaborative process. The program included a three-day summit with an additional fourteen Aboriginal choreographers. Final works were presented as part of the 2009 Banff Summer Arts Festival. In August, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre held its inaugural Summer Aboriginal Dance Training Intensive in Toronto. The three-week program offered classes in ballet and contemporary dance as well as traditional Aboriginal performing arts. According to Kaha:wi Artistic Director Santee Smith, the program was created in response to an "overwhelming need for professional development of the Aboriginal dance form." Also in August, Planet IndigenUs, a multi-disciplinary festival of Aboriginal art, was co-presented by Toronto's Harbourfront Centre and Brantford's Woodland Cultural Centre. The festival featured performances, workshops, and community collaboration projects by Indigenous artists from Canada and around the world. Initially presented in 2004, this was the festival's second year.
Kaha:wi Dance Theatre dance workshop / Photo by Sarah Palmieri, courtesy of Centre for the Arts Brock University