February 18-23, 2020 in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Tickets for evening performances can be purchased through the Cultch website. Follow this link!

part of Talking Stick Festival 2020

Matriarchs Uprising brings together Indigenous women who are nurturing the art of contemporary dance so that it may be appreciated by audiences from all backgrounds. Curated and co-produced by Olivia C. Davies, Artistic Director of O.Dela Arts, the performances are accompanied by artist talks and workshops to provide audiences deeper insight into the creative impulses guiding the creators. This exciting program is themed around identity and includes interdisciplinary performances by Indigenous choreographers from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand including Aria Evans, Mariaa Randall with Henrietta Baird, and Louise Potiki Bryant with celebrated Indigenous sculptor, Paerau Corneal.

Program 1 (Feb 21)    Same But Different

DubaiKungkaMiyalk brings together Mariaa Randall and Henrietta Baird, two contemporary choreographers who tell stories through dance. Each woman has created a work that draws on their individual dance practice. While both artists’ style of moving may be different, the women are unified by their common desire to move. Baird’s Protocols is a solo investigating cultural protocols; questioning when to follow cultural law and when to break it in order to keep culture alive. Randall’s I’Dentity dissects the boundaries of identity and questions who gets to draw the line. Same but Different places the women and their work side by side to challenge any notion that all Indigenous dance is the same.

Program 2 (Feb 22)    Kiri and Link

KIRI is an interdisciplinary performance combining dance, sculpture and video by choreographer and video artist, Louise Potiki Bryant, and clay artist Paerau Corneal with a hypnotic sound score by composer, Paddy Free. KIRI explores the integrity of clay in a pre-ceramic state and acknowledges the creation of Hine-ahu-one, the first woman created from earth in our Māori creation traditions. KIRI means ‘skin’ and clay is activated in contact with the dancer’s skin which in turn animates the dancer. KIRI is a conversation between a dancer and a sculptor redefining our mutual knowledge of skin and clay, movement and form and concepts of geology/ whakapapa (genealogy), the sacred and the mundane.

Link is a warrior dance, choreographed and performed by Aria Evans, about the blockades we come across in life, focusing on the idea of forging ahead and asking the question; “What is my generation fighting for or against?”

A note about the curator’s vision:

Inspired by the strong Indigenous women dance artists in her network, Olivia C. Davies launched this inaugural showcase of solo works by Indigenous women. “The pendulum is swinging, and the shift in balance in terms of power and privilege and everything that we’ve struggled for is now actually coming to light,” (Davies, Artistic Director and Curator of the inaugural Matriarchs Uprising festival in an interview with the Tyee, June 2019)

Matriarchs Uprising: TSV Working Class w/ Mariaa Randall
Wed, Feb 19: 10am-11:30am
@ The Dance Centre
https://www.trainingsocietyofvancouver.ca

Conversation Māori artists Paerau Corneal & Louise Potiki Bryant
Wed, Feb 19: 530-630pm
@ Skwachays Lodge Aboriginal Hotel and Gallery
https://www.facebook.com/events/2202066683434930/

Matriarchs Uprising: TSV Working Class w/ Louise Potiki Bryant
Fri, Feb 21: 10am-11:30am
@ The Dance Centre
https://www.trainingsocietyofvancouver.ca

Matriarchs Uprising: Creation Lab with Aria Evans
Fri, Feb 21: 12pm-3pm
@ The Dance Centre
https://www.facebook.com/events/617741822376848/

Matriarchs Uprising Program 1: co-presented by Talking Stick Fest featuring Mariaa Randall & Henrietta Baird
Fri, Feb 21: 7:30pm
@ The Cultch
https://www.facebook.com/events/2620663391549536/

Matriarchs Uprising: Talking Truths Circle Conversation
Hosted by Raven Spirit Dance
Sat, Feb 22: 1pm-2pm
@ Skwachays Lodge Aboriginal Hotel and Gallery https://www.facebook.com/events/473127950051961/

Matriarchs Uprising Program 2: co-presented by Talking Stick Fest featuring Louise Potiki Bryant with Paerau Corneal & Aria Evans
Sat, Feb 22: 7:30pm
@ The Cultch
https://www.facebook.com/events/1968073856672373/

Matriarchs Uprising: Community Dance Class with Mariaa Randall
Sun, Feb 23: 4:30-6pm
@ The Dance Centre
https://www.facebook.com/events/215279399491613/


O.Dela Arts and partners acknowledge that these events take place on the ancestral and unceded Indigenous territories of the ʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations.