Photo: Andy Carroll
Zaagidiwin: Our Mothering Heart
Zaagi’idiwin: Our Mothering Heart weaves three womxn’s stories of love and loss, reflecting on the Mothers who carry us, the Mothers who raise us, and the Mother land and Mother tongue that nourish us and fill our hearts full of hope. Revealing matriarchal legacies coursing through blood memory and the living body. Seeds of connection travelling along the flow of time. Remembering the words and the entities they represent with each breath. Movements of the heart mark the passing of moments strung together in a spider’s web of shared experiences.
Included in the triple bill are three solos from O.Dela Arts artistic associates, Samanatha Sutherland and Sophie Dow, and Artistic Director, Olivia C. Davies.
Journals of adoption, a solo created and performed by Sophie Dow, extends a choreographic exploration through two journals of origin: one text from Sophie’s birth mother’s experience of pregnancy and process of offering her up; the other text from Sophie’s own reflections, queries and rumination as an adopted child.
In Rematriate XX23, created by Olivia C. Davies and interpreted by Samantha Sutherland, stars shimmer across a great expanse of darkness marking the first glimmer of life stirring. The universal form moves through her body, shaping the spaces in between, and settling in her softness. She welcomes the Earth to crawl up into her form as the waters rise around her. Gathering strength to carry on. Shape-shifting from this world to the next with each breath.
Slip away, a solo created and performed by Samantha Sutherland explores themes of loss and hope relating to the endangered state of the Ktunaxa Language. What happens when individuals are motivated by fear? What work needs to happen to develop a sense of hope for our future? This solo shares accounts of the current efforts toward preservation of the endangered language, and showcases dreams of how it may continue enlivened in the future.
Photo: Andy Carroll
Project Created by: O.Dela Arts
Key Artistic Collaborators:
Rematriate XX23
Choreography: Olivia C. Davies
Costume and Set Design: Olivia C. Davies
Interpreter: Samantha SutherlandMusic: Paddy Free, Max Ulis
Slip Away
Choreography & Performance: Samantha Sutherland
Composition: Jeffrey Sutherland
Voice in audio: Sophie Pierre and Samantha SutherlandCostume Design: Cindy Sutherland
Set Design: Samantha Sutherland and Olivia C. Davies
Outside Eye: Olivia C. Davies
Journals of Adoption
Choreography & Performance: Sophie Dow
Sound Design: Sophie Dow
Text: Sophie Dow & Caroline C.
Piano: Chris Zabriskie, Asher Fulero, Emmit Fenn
Costume & Set Design: Sophie Dow
Mentors: Olivia C Davies
Performance type: This work is built for theatre
How do you define this work: Contemporary Indigenous Dance, Solos
Length of performance: 60 minutes, this is a mixed program
Audience type: General Audience
General Technical Requirements: Technical Rider available upon request.
Specific needs: (1) projector focused on Centre Stage, black Marley dance floor, rigging point on USL grid for fabric hang.
Required amount of time for tech set up: 8 hours for hang & focus lighting / projector, rigging of fabric set pieces, audio playback test, projection test, Q2Q and/or Dress Rehearsal prior to first performance
Number of Performers on tour (including choreographer): 3
Number of Support Staff on Tour: 1 Stage manager
Availabilities: 2025 Spring season, 2025/26 Season, and 2026/27 Season
O.Dela Arts
The mandate of O.Dela Arts Society is to support the creation and production of contemporary Indigenous choreography by women through community-engaged projects, creative collaboration across discipline and generation, new project commissions, and Matriarchs Uprising.
O.Dela Arts values creativity, integrity, and kinship.
O.Dela Arts is committed to undertaking projects that support the research and creation of Managing Artistic Director, Olivia C. Davies and the company’s artistic associates, Samantha Sutherland and Sophie Dow, and supports the development of production and touring of O.Dela Arts’ creations and collaborations. O.Dela Arts supports the development of educational workshops, community-engaged and interdisciplinary projects offered by its artists with a view towards sharing open-access knowledge and lived experience. Guided by Anishinaabe cultural teachings based on the principle of mutual respect, the company prioritizes a working environment that encourages collaboration and courageous creative expression.
Creativity. At the heart of all we do is the pursuit of creative storytelling through movement that carries out an honoring of individual expression and collective co creation.
Integrity. We strive to engage in reciprocal exchanges that are rooted in an honoring of our diverse natures while expanding the possibility for excellence.
Kinship. Our work is grounded in a passionate desire to uphold meaningful connections, nurture trust and offer mutual respect.
Our vision encompasses a future where dance can flourish in the arts ecology and live performance can take new paths to reaching a widening circle of witnesses.
O.Dela Arts takes us beyond arts and into the heart-shaped space of our spirit. (Olivia C. Davies)
Performance History & Upcoming Performances
This triple bill premiered at Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space in Peterborough, ON, November 2023, presented by Public Energy.
Project Details
Community Engagement
Weaving Our Stories --- Community Workshop. Our artists can offer a community co-creation workshop in Storytelling through Movement. Open to all abilities, and geared to young adults and older, the workshop offers a creative process for seeding new dances that are founded on stories of each participant's personal legacy. Facilitated by Olivia with Sophie and Samantha supporting, the workshop offers community members a chance to experience movement as a way to tell a story. Guided improvisations lead us to a place of co-creation where each person shares a story from their personal legacy, and then together we combine elements to form a singular dance that weaves the threads of each person's story into one combined tapestry of lived experience.
Format can be 1 workshop offered over (2) hours or 2 workshops offered over (1) hour each. Depending on the season, this workshop can be facilitated outdoors. Public invitation and outreach to community to participate is expected to be initiated by the Presenter ahead of the engagement. Max. 20 participants.
Outreach Activities
Our artists can teach Community Level dance classes for all ages and abilities, as well as Masterclasses in Contemporary Dance for professionals. Classes usually run 60min up to 90min, and can be offered on stage or in studio. Alternate spaces will be considered (i.e. school gymnasium, community centre)