Matriarchs Uprising Performances and Programming at DSA 2022
Friday October 14, Saturday October 15 at 8pm

PURCHASE PERFORMANCE TICKETS ($25) WITH CONFERENCE REGISTRATION (livestream free with virtual registration) SOLD OUT, PURCHASE BELOW

Purchase additional tickets directly from the venue HERE

Curated by Olivia C. Davies, Artistic Director of the Vancouver-based O.Dela Arts, Matriarchs Uprising (2019-) is a unique platform that highlights the choreographic voices of Indigenous women, offering stories of transformation through dance creation, production, and conversation. This special offering of Matriarchs Uprising, taking place in conjunction with DSA 2022, will include two evening performances featuring works by Raven Spirit Dance (Spine of the Mother, choreographed by Starr Muranko) and the Dancers of Damelahamid (an excerpt from Spirit and Tradition, choreographed by Margaret Grenier).

Also being planned as part of the conference programing: workshops by Davies on Contemporary Indigenous Dance and by V’ni Dansi’s Yvonne Chartrand on Métis jigging; and a circle conversation with all of the artists to discuss the ways Indigenous Dance connects to the broader dance community, and to the world. 

Evening Performances at the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver (and available via livestream for virtual registrants)

Friday, October 14 and Saturday, October 15, 8 pm (running time: 70 minutes, including 10 minute pause) 

Program of Works:

Spirit and Tradition (excerpt) Dancers of Damelahamid / Margaret Grenier

Spirit and Tradition layers projected imagery, soundscape, and Coastal Indigenous masked dance, immersing us into the rich and diverse ecosystem of the mountains, rivers, and ocean of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Spirit and Tradition’s key themes are reciprocity and ecological sustainability, conveying important teachings on balance, interconnectedness, and community. Spirit and Tradition has toured to the 2010 Expo Shanghai, the International Festival de Danzas, Cusco, Peru (2011), the Festival internacional de danza folklorica, Ambato, Ecuador (2014), the (2015) Pan American Games in Toronto, Ontario, and the 2020 Expo Dubai. https://damelahamid.ca/

Creative team:

Choreographer: Margaret Grenier 
Production Manager: Andrew Grenier 
Gitxsan Translations: Elder Betsy Lomax 
Collaborating Composer: Ted Hamilton

Spine of the Mother Raven Spirit Dance / Starr Muranko

Spine of the Mother began as an innovative collaboration with Indigenous artists in Canada and Peru. Tracing the inner terrain of our bodies as women through breath, impulse and memory unlocks kinetic energy creating ritual, which spans the spine of the mountain range we have shared for millennia.

The metaphor of the “Spine of Mother Earth” is a name given by Indigenous Elders in South America to the Andean mountain range that spans from the base in Argentina, through the Americas and ends at the tip of Alaska. Our bodies become the landscape like the mountain ranges that connect the North and South (the Eagle and the Condor) and through this we find our kinetic connection to others that transmits impulse, breath and spirit. www.ravenspiritdance.com

Production team/credits:

Choreography:Starr Muranko, in collaboration with past performers Tasha-Faye Evans, Andrea Patriau, and Olivia Shaffer 
Performed by: Tasha Faye Evans and Sarah Formosa 
Video/Media Design: Sammy Chien 
Composer: Edgardo Moreno (‘Gracias a la Vida’ sung by Daniela Andrade) 
Dramaturg and Mentor: Alvin Tolentino 
Mentor: Michelle Olson 
Cultural Advisor: Jhaimy Alvarez-Acosta (Peru)
 Lighting Design: John Carter
 Costume Design: Ines Ortner
 Additional Dramaturgy: Alejandro Ronceria