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.