Festival includes the Vancouver premier of naⱡa, named after a Ktunaxa grammar device that, when added to a word, implies plural, we or many
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Matriarchs Uprising
For choreographer Samantha Sutherland, dance is a way of connecting her with the language of her people, the Ktunaxa nation in the East Kootenays.
“I’ve been learning the language for five or six years, since COVID,” said Sutherland, who has a piece in this year’s Matriarchs Uprising festival.
“It’s been a way to connect with my culture and community. It’s a big part of my life that is not dance-related. But because dance is my career, and it’s the way I move through my life, I wanted to bring it into dance.”
Entitled naⱡa, the piece features four dancers and is named after a Ktunaxa grammar device that, when added to a word, implies plural, we or many.
Dance, Sutherland says, helps her understand the language.
“When I bring language to dance, I find I retain words and sentences better. It’s a way to embody the language and to help my brain along in learning by involving my body. And then bringing language to dance and sharing it with audiences, whether it’s a Ktunaxa audience or not, is a way to share the beauty of my language and the culture that I’ve learned from it.”
For its Vancouver premiere, naⱡa will share a bill with Sophie Dow’s all roads lead home 3.0. Both Sutherland and Dow are artistic associates of O. Della Arts, the local Indigenous dance society run by Oliva C. Davies. The Vancouver choreographer started the festival seven years ago and returns as curator.
Raven Spirit Dance’s Tracing Bones, a duet choreographed by Starr Muranko, kicks things off. On the company’s website, it’s described as “a duet about memory and presence. It reflects upon the question — what memories do we hold onto, what do we tuck away, what gets forgotten or transformed over time?”
“It’s a really beautiful way to open the festival, with a piece by a local contemporary Indigenous dance company,” Davies said. “I deeply honour and respect Starr Muranko’s vision for what she’s sharing. It is a truly heart-centred work.”
Tracing Bones is on a double-bill with Friday Creeation’s Bawaajgun: Visions IN Dreams. The work is a collaboration between Ontario-based choreographer Christine Friday and champion Alberta hoop dancer Beany John.
“Christine has been a friend and colleague for many, many moons now,” Davies said. “She was going to present work in our 2022 festival but couldn’t travel at the time. We are now finally able to share her work on stage.”
The festival will close with the world premiere of TOA III from Maöri choreographer Bella Waru.
“Bringing their work to the festival is something of a dream for me,” Davies said. “I first encountered Bella in 2019 at the FTA (Festival TransAmérique) in Montreal, where they were a guest. They had a lot of energy around them.”
The festival also features Lara Kramer’s Gorgeous Tongue. Nêhiyaw/Métis dance artist Jeanette Kotowich performs the piece, which is based on stories, dreams, and songs from Kramer’s Anishinaabe lineage.
In addition to live dance performances, the festival hosts its annual Indigi-Dance film series both on-demand and at a screening on the last day of the festival. The festival also hosts master classes and community workshops as well as its Talking Truths conversation series.
And, on Feb. 21, Davies will also host the Gathering Hope Residency with the DTES Grandmothers Collective. The event includes a movement and story-weaving improvised performance and conversation in collaboration with Rosemary Georgeson, Sharon Jinkerson-Brass, Melissa Matheson-Frost, Sophie Dow, Rianne Švelnis, Savannah Walling and Ziyian Kwan.