2021-2022

Aina-Yasué Photo credits: John-Cameron

CDC, Aina Yasué CDC for the Te’mexw Treaty Association, WSÁNEĆ, Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group, Tsawwassen Territory (Salt Spring Island)

Over the course of the winter, Aina Yasue participated in the San’yas Cultural Safety program. She wrote a reflection on her participation. Please take a moment to read it.

Dance West Network – Reflections on the San’yas Cultural Safety program

Who writes history?

As the world shut down due to Covid-19 and many turned to the internet for social interaction, the visibility of police brutality in North America mobilized people across the world to end state violence against BIPOC peoples. One of my friends semi-joked, “it’s like white people didn’t realize racism existed until now.” I think about this observation often, especially when I run into grown white men who suffer from anxiety and guilt (to the point where they have to stand up and leave or raise their voice) just thinking about how they can either be disadvantaged or advantaged systemically based on their identity. This is such a different experience from those whose grandparents and great-grand parents lived with policies which denied them basic human needs, and those who look around and see their family and loved ones murdered by people others see as protectors. As many scholars, activists, artists and others have pointed out, this mind-blowing gap is partly due to the lack of accessibility we have to counter- narratives, or stories that differ from Euro-centric perspectives. As dancers and dance artists, we know the power of stories and how stories inform how people engage with the world. The San’yas Cultural Safety Training program is an incredibly informative way to hear an Indigenous narrative of how ‘Canada’ became what it is now, and what we can do as individuals to confront our biases and understandings built up over time that only privileged one point of view. Learning about Indigenous histories offers us a chance to appreciate multiple experiences, a first step in anticipating and intervening in violence against BIPOC peoples before it’s too late, again.

Ecko Aleck CDC for Snuneymuxw homelands (Nanaimo) presented The Body Talk Teen Program

Now in it's 16th year Crimson Coast Dance has presented The Body Talk Teen Program. CDC, Ecko Aleck, Nlaka’pamux Nation (Interior Salish) and raised with the shishalh Nation (Coast Salish) facilitates a council of teens " The Cru", who meet weekly from October to May, to produce the annual Spring Break dance event and learn leadership skills through physical activity and teamwork. They explore career options in performing arts with industry professionals; lighting, sound, event planning, marketing, public speaking and performance. Ecko grounds this learning in culture, in particular within the context of hosting and through the Decolonization models she developed as part of her business, Sacred Matriarch Creative. She does this by implementing her process of decolonizing time, utilizing cultural reciprocity models and cultural Medicine Plant cycles as the basis for the flow of the program. The youth’s event, the Annual Body Talk HiP HoP PoW WoW Spring Break Workshop, 2022, hosted Indigenous and non-Indigenous teens to learn hip hop dance with Mr. Groove himself, AJ Megaman; writing, poetry and song by the one and only Sirreal; and it deepened participant’s understanding of culture through dance with Tzinquaw Dancers and teachings by Snuneymuxw Elders. The teens also experienced a workshop with Haisla rappers, Yung Trybez and Young D, in other words, The Snotty Nose Rez Kids! The youth and the artists performed at the culminating show.

Photo credits/information clock wise: Elder Gary Manson, Snuneymuxw, teaching the Bone Game, CRU member in the lighting booth, and Body Talk HiP HoP PoW WoW participants (Photo Doug Wortley)

Karma Lacoff, CDC for the Syilx/Okanagan homelands (Kelowna) hosted Tara Cheyenne Performance.

The Rotary Centre for the Arts hosted Tara Cheyenne Performance on March 25 and 26, 2022. Bright and early on Friday morning, Tara hosted Cafecito, an invigorating creative practice workshop that started off the participants' day with writing, movement, a fresh cup of coffee - and much laughter!

"A wonderful window into the process and practice of Tara Cheyenne, Cafecito opened the floor to movement and expression in the purest form. I enjoyed the freedom to be imperfect, impulsive, and above all, present." Participant Rachel Mercer.

On Saturday night, Tara performed Body Parts to an extremely enthusiastic audience "Finally a dancer to whom I can relate! Body Parts shares the story we all know but never tell, the story of our own bodies. I was enchanted by her honesty, moved by her vulnerability, and delighted by her profound absurdity." Audience member TCP in rehearsal at Mary Irwin Theatre at the Rotary Centre for the Arts, Kelowna.

Kenley Knock, CDC for the Secwepemc homelands (Revelstoke) hosted Tara Cheyenne Performance.

February 3rd, 4th & 5th, 2022 - Revelstoke experienced and wonderful a weekend filled with movement and performance. Tara Cheyenne Freidenberg arrived to lead an improvisation workshop to community youth through THE STUDIO Dance & Wellness. Arts Revelstoke then hosted a workshop titled Talking & Dancing for female & non-binary identifying adults. Through the workshop, participants explored movement and sound in both individual and partner activities. On Saturday Tara Cheyenne Performance hit the stage with The Body Project, a hilarious presentation of vulnerability around cultural preconceptions that women face through their lives. One of the most memorable parts of the weekend was the talk back after the intimate performance where audience members reflected and told stories about their own experiences. It was incredible how many people from different backgrounds have had the same experiences.

Karen Buchanan, CDC for the Ts’msyen Laxyuup homelands (Prince Rupert)

and Change Makers held a winter solstice and dance celebration ( in -20 weather!) dancing with pyroterra lights to brighten the darkness of the longest night.

Photos: Karen Buchanan

Kaien Fusion of Fashion, Culture & Dance

Pride 2021

Pride Community Unites to Share their Joy and Strut their Stuff for Kaien Fusion

Karen Buchanan, CDC for Ts’msyen La̱xyuup homelands (Prince Rupert), worked with local fashion designers and dancers to create an online dance celebration of the various cultural communities in their town, featuring a special celebration of Mask Makers to honor the collective masked experience of 2020/2021.

Unmasked 2021 Kaien Fusion of Fashion, Culture and Dance Show launched online October 24 for Culture Days. Click here to watch the video.

A contemporary raven mask in leather, designed by Nisga’a artist John Lincoln

Photo: Andrew Stewart, ProRez Studios

Company members from Wen Wei Dance offered an exciting workshop for the Dance students at the Gulf Island School for the Performing Arts (GISPA) on Saltspring Island in October. The students had fun learning from the artists, who were in town to perform their work Ying Yun (英云), at ArtSpring theatre October 7 and 8.