SKéN:NEN

Premiere October 1-3, 2021

Theatrical Premiere - May 9th - 11th, 2024

In 2050 post environmental catastrophe, an auntie and her niece flee from Six Nations to the Eastern Door, their Kahnyen’kehàka homelands in the Adirondack mountains. Escaping rising and virus filled waters, they take refuge at a bunker camp; condoling with the land and re-aligning to the newly shifted Earth. Site-specific multimedia performance premiere is presented by FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, St. Catherines and Celebration of Nations.

CONTINUANCE

Yonkwa'nikonhrakontáhkwen - our consciousness continues unchanged

As a part of the National Arts Centre English Theatre’s Grand Acts of Theatre initiative, Continuance as a Grand Act is an embodiment of resilience. A celebration of Indigenous continuance the drive-in theatre shines light, 3D mapping on the dark oppressiveness of the Mohawk Institute Residential School.

BLOOD TIDES

Blood Tides is the 2nd production in a triptych series (Re-Quickening, Blood Tides, Skén:nen) about the re-matriation to the house of humanity: the womb. Created and performed through a ceremonial process, scenes such as The Thresholders, Awakening, Lightning Womxn, First Waters, Emergence, First Moon, Renewal, Re-sculpting, Weaving the Strands and Sacred Seed reaffirms the power of a womxn’s reproductive body and her role as the portal between worlds, the thresholder of life and death.

THE MUSH HOLE

The Mush Hole reflects the realities of the Mohawk Institute residential school experience and offers a way to open dialogue and to heal, through acknowledgement and honouring the spirit of Survivors and families that were impacted. The Mush Hole moves through the devastation of residential school with grace and hope for transformation and release. Opening a small window into the atrocities inflicted on 1000’s of Indigenous children, it attempts to close the door on historical amnesia. A haunting portrayal, weaves through memories of Survivors, reliving traumas, school life, loss of culture, remembrance, returning to find each other and lifting off of shame.

BLOOD WATER EARTH

An embodied incantation Blood, Water, Earth traverses sacred alignment from cosmos to womb to earth, in a symbolic ritual renewal. Weaving performance, video and music, the performance channels the ancestral, elemental and the dream world. Highly cinematic, the imagery and energies span the wide range of what is womxn: warrior, leader, mother, and huntress.

Re-QUICKENING

Provoking, conceptual and visceral Re-Quickening is a timely call for reawakening the intact feminine. Through bold imagery, sound and embodied Indigenous narratives, it is a re-affirmation of life and sovereignty of female voice and body. Re-storying into balance Re-Quickening is a women’s renewal ceremony. Conceived through an Indigenous creation process, it’s a spiritual resurgence, a piecing together of shards of knowledge, tipping colonialism on its head.

THE HONOURING

The Honouring pays homage to Onkwehon:wen and First Nations warriors and their families who sacrificed to protect Haudenosaunee sovereignty, culture and land during the War of 1812. Audiences have the opportunity to understand the complexity of the War of 1812 through the experiential lens of First Nations, offering a human face to our history.

NeoIndigenA

A solo call for connection, transformation and healing NeoIndigenA is a performance of the soul exploring our relationship to all living entities and elements. It is transcendent and primordial fiercely cycling through sacred portals between Skyworld, Earthworld and Underworld. Santee Smith’s solo journey encompasses past, present, future in one body and space, awakening ancient ways of knowing and spiritual renewal. NeoIndigenA searches for sacred pathways of human connection to self and universe.

TRANSMIGRATION

TransMigration is a visually raw and engaging story inspired by the life and paintings of iconic Ojibwe shaman-artist Norval Morrisseau. TransMigration is a dialogue, a response to Morrisseau’s vision, struggles and brilliance as an artist. Vibrating with colour, energy, and sensuality, it is a reflection of humanity and the power of spirit to transform and transcend. Inspired by Morrisseau’s display of vibrant colours and bold imagery, like many great artists, he lived as intensely as the images depicted in his paintings.

TKARONTO BOUNCE

Tkaronto Bounce takes inspiration from the significance of Onkwehon:we game of Lacrosse as a celebration of life, unification of body, mind and spirit to uplift and strengthen individuals and communities, KDT presents 5 short sport/dance fusions in a work called Tkaronto Bounce. This work synthesizes in a high-energy entertaining mesh up of dance with Lacrosse, Taekwondo, Athletics, Volleyball and Kayaking.

SUSURIWKA - WILLOW BRIDGE

A humanistic and metaphorical journey, Susuriwka – willow bridge is a homage to land and spirit. It is a dance work that explores inter-connection, sacredness, loss and revitalization. In post-environmental disaster, a couple and community attempts to pull together their fractured lives and homeland. In this crisis, a grief too strong separates the couple and only in death can they re-connect, bridging the cosmos on a willow bridge. Susuriwka – willow bridge aims to remind us to awaken spirit in everyday life – even in the face of hardship and environmental catastrophe.

HERE ON EARTH

Originating in the Iroquoian belief that human beings dwelled in the Sky and dreamt their existence on Earth. Time stands still. The work explores our spiritual connections to the land, and the idea of Earth as a living organism, Earth as Mother and Earth as sacred.