schedule

Indigenous video series

Watch five short video works, accessible for free all week long...

Kelly Nash & Nancy Wijohn

Irihipeti Waretini & Bella Waru

Sandra Lamouche

Olivia Shortt

Kayla Briët

Olivia C. Davies, presented w/ Working Class @ Scotiabank Dance Centre

In her class, Olivia shares a Contemporary Indigenous dance methodology that is intended to open new ways of experiencing the world with breath, impulse, and shape guided by imagination and our connection to earth and sky. We will tap into the material of bone and muscle, mind and body, and presence work to explore the space within our body and surrounding us. Guided improvisations generate intentional gestures sourced from our imaginations and our blood memory. Set sequences will apply basic movement fundamentals and take us into momentum with reach, push, pull, yield, and spiraling action.

Samantha Sutherland @ Scotiabank Dance Centre

A workshop to learn the Ktunaxa Language through dance. Engaging our bodies and minds, we will learn phrases and words in Ktunaxa by attaching them to gesture and movement. It is an opportunity for participants to experience the creative process that went into creating Samantha’s work kaqwiⱡȼi, while learning her language through dance in community. All dance experience levels are welcome.

Talking Truths: Indigenous Futurism—Stories of Transformation @ online

What ancestral ties are suspended between the past & present day in our artistic practices? By nourishing our youth of today with our ancestral wisdom, we can create a strong future for our seven generations of caretakers to come. Celebrating the artists of the digital curation at Matriarchs Uprising 2023 and co-hosted by O.Dela Arts’ Artistic Associates Samantha Sutherland & Sophie Dow, we're excited to offer this free, online event for all to experience. Audiences are invited to join this circle live on zoom and be part of an intimate conversation presented as a way to learn, listen, and witness these dance artists speaking their truth.

Santee Smith, presented w/ Working Class @ The Dance Centre

Santee shares insight and aspects of her movement and energetic practices inspired by natural patterning, knowledge encoded within cultural symbols, and the grounded pulse of Onkwehon:we style of dance, supple and activated spine with call and response as a reciprocal process. The class features full bodied movement, awareness of breath, activation of energy from inside and outside of the body with guided imagery and free form movement exploration. The class is open to movement people from all styles with ability to work within personal ranges. Class is barefoot or socked, wearing non-restrictive clothing is suggested.

Talking Truths: Moving Through Time In Search of the Present + Feast @ The Dance Centre

You're invited to sit in circle with contemporary Indigenous dance artists Santee Smith, Samantha Sutherland, Sophie Dow, Gabrielle Thomas, Abbie Rogers, Marama Lloyd and host Olivia C. Davies; conversation will be followed by a Feast

Our hearts are the carriers of blood memory. Expanding and contracting in concert with the world around us and the universe within us, we are shaped by our experience of connection to our inner and outer worlds. As Indigenous choreographers, we are carrying the echoes of the past into the present through our embodiment of the creative force that is found in all things. By drawing on reflections of one’s personal lineage, responsibility to carry culture forward, and ability to align and exchange with the natural world, the dances that emerge seek to find truth in the lived experience of their creators.

Sophie Dow @ The Dance Centre

This is an open rehearsal/work-in-progress sharing where participants are invited into physical movement for the first half and then to witness Sophie's process and choreography as she continues rehearsing and building her new choreography of journals of adoption and finishing with a circle conversation about the work. All dance experience levels are welcome.

TOMO VR @ Scotiabank Dance Centre

A virtual reality film from Atamira Dance Company that captures the dream space with its haunting tale of life and death

2:30–3pm ↛ Screening 1

3:15–3:45pm ↛ Screening 2

4–4:30pm ↛ Screening 3

Gabrielle Thomas & Abbie Rogers, presented w/ Working Class @ The Dance Centre

Experience a Māori contemporary dance with Choreographer Gaby Thomas and dancer Abbie Rogers from Atamira Dance Company (Aotearoa/New Zealand). Participants will engage with Māori perspectives while learning techniques, concepts and repertoire from the company’s recent work TOMO. Be ready to move in and out of the floor, participate in sensory play and make contact with others through the exploration of wairua (spirit), light and darkness.

Gathering Hope Residency @ Morrow + online

You're invited to gather with us online for a livestream sharing of our 2nd improvisational creation residency, Gathering Hope, that weaves threads of cultural sharing and intergenerational knowledge with Vancouver Downtown Eastside Grandmother’s Collective: Dalannah Gail Bowen, Rosemary Georgeson and Savannah Walling, along with Olivia C. Davies, Ziyian Kwan and Rianne Švelnis. Generously supported by Dumb Instrument Dance.

TOMO VR @ Scotiabank Dance Centre

A virtual reality film from Atamira Dance Company that captures the dream space with its haunting tale of life and death

Available in the downstairs lobby, in advance of Ñswe niiminwinan (3 dances); no registration required

Ñswe niiminwinan (3 dances) @ Scotiabank Dance Centre

Featuring solo works in development from Sophie Dow, Samantha Sutherland and Kaha:Wi Dance Theatre

Post-show artist talk

Atamira Dance Company @ Scotiabank Dance Centre

Experience indigenous dance technique and choreography from a Māori perspective with TOMO choreographer Gabrielle Thomas and dancer Abbie Rogers (Aotearoa/New Zealand). Set at community level, this class features the Aroha (love) Series, a movement practice developed by Gaby Thomas. Be ready to move in and out of the floor, engage with sensory play and contact with others through concepts of wairua (spirit), light and darkness. All dance experience levels are welcome.

TOMO VR @ Scotiabank Dance Centre

A virtual reality film from Atamira Dance Company that captures the dream space with its haunting tale of life and death

3:15–3:45pm ↛ Screening 1

4–4:30pm ↛ Screening 2

4:45–5:15pm ↛ Screening 3

5:30–6pm ↛ Screening 4

6:15–6:45pm ↛ Screening 5

Maamawi (ᒫᒪᐏ) @ Scotiabank Dance Centre + online via an immersive multiplayer virtual reality environment

This production from O.Dela Arts & Pepper's Ghost New Media Collective braids the dreams of past, present, and future into a post-apocalyptic landscape, an expression of the Anishinaabe Seven Fire Prophecies, as shared by Anishinaabe Elder, Gloria May Eshkibok

Post-show artist talk, followed by closing reception