March 2011
MARCH 1st : SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT !A limited amount of tickets go on sale today for only 12 dollars - less than half price ! For DANCING EARTH's debut at the San Francisco International Arts Festival, at 730 pm Friday May 1st at the Marine Memorial Theater in downtown San Francisco !Please support DANCING EARTH's appearance by getting your early bird tickets on March 1st, there is a limited number of seats available at this price and we want to see the house filled with family, friends and new audience members !*****************************Meanwhile, in Ontario Canada :Welcome to the 10th INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S SYMPOSIUMRestoring Indigenous Women’s Knowledges and Ways of Knowing in Our Homelands March 4th to 6th, 2011First Peoples House of LearningTrent University, Peterborough, Ontario Ms Tangen will be offering a keynote address on Saturday March 5th, more info available at : http://www.trentu.ca/academic/nativestudies/In_Women_Sympose/presntworkshop.htm
On Thursday and Friday March 17 and 18th, students and community members who have been working with Rulan at Trent University will do a public showing of their work , alongside excerpts of Rosalie Jones "No Home But the Heart" at 7 pm, followed by a reception at 9 pm.Final AM IX posterIndigenous Performance Initiatives in association with the Department of Indigenous Studies, Trent University, are pleased to present ANISHNAABE MAAJIIDWIN IXThursday March 17 and Friday March 18 at 7:30pmAn evening of Indigenous dance, music, and storytelling
featuring
“Walking the Edge of Water” (work in progress)Choreographed by Rulan Tangen, International Guest Artist&Excerpts from “No Home But The Heart: An Assembly of Memories” Written and choreographed by Daystar/ Rosalie Jonesat NOZHEM: First Peoples Performance SpaceEnweying: First Peoples House of Learning and Gzowski College2510 Pioneer Road, East Bank, Trent UniversityAdmission: Pay What You CanPlease reserve seats by calling (705) 748-1011 x7923Artistic Producer: Marrie MumfordAssociate Artistic Producer: Karyn Recollet FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 7, 2011 TRENT UNIVERSITY – The ninth annual production of Anishinaabe Maanjiidwin will feature two Indigenous choreographers from the Americas working from independent yet related approaches to the work.Under the sponsorship of Indigenous Performance Initiatives, Rulan Tangen (Métis), in a three-week residency intensive, has created a new work in collaboration with participating dance artists who bring to the process their different backgrounds, languages, dance forms, and perspectives. This new work is the manifestation of a long held dream that began several years ago when Indigenous grandmothers gave Rulan a message of request for artists to address the need for purification of the waters. Her invitation to Trent provided the opportunity to meet with Anishinaabe women who have been walking the edges of the Great Lakes in order to bring awareness " to spur people to give thanks for their water and to realize that water is alive and needs protection” in the words of Debora Fourstar and Josephine Mandamin, who said "look after the water for the next generation of the unborn”.Inspired by this mandate, Rulan encouraged each dancer to reach inside themselves for their own experiences with water, and they have brought stories of childbirth, of growing up on islands, of creation - with glimpses of words in Cree, Spanish, Zulu, English, Anishinaabemowin, French and Blackfoot. Spinning, stomping and spiraling these into dance mosaics in tribute to the Women Who Water Walk. This is the first showing of this new work, intended as a sketch for a future full length performance by Ms. Tangen's own company in Santa Fe, New Mexico - DANCING EARTH, which she founded in 2004. Thus, Indigenous contemporary dance emerges as an expression that can build communities through functional movement rituals that enhance our understanding of our relationships with the world around us. The imprint of the artists working with her at Trent will have continued life in future performance incarnations of DANCING EARTH, bringing the vision seeded by Anishinaabe Maanjiidwin IX to flower in expanded circles.Daystar/Rosalie Jones (Pembina Chippewa) is faculty within Trent University and teaches in the Indigenous Performance Studies curriculum. In 1980, she founded her company Daystar: Contemporary Dance-Drama of Indian America and in 2004 was recognized as a pioneer of “Native Modern Dance”. One of her signature works “No Home But The Heart” is being remounted for this production with students of the Indigenous Dance Theatre course and additional invited performers. “No Home But The Heart” is a dance-drama based on stories told by her mother surrounding family memories dating back to the 1837 Northern Plains smallpox epidemic. Four generations of women tell stories of relocation, adaptation and survival. Daystar feels that this work acknowledges the search of all of us for identity, family and homeland.The Artistic Producer of this year’s production is Marrie Mumford, Canada Research Chair and Artistic Director of Nozhem: First Peoples Performance Space. Performers in this year’s production are invited professional artists from regional communities, former Trent graduates, as well as participants of the Indigenous Performance Studies program - Indigenous Dance Theatre and Introduction to Indigenous Theatre courses.All performances are pay what you can and are open to the public. To reserve your seat, please call ahead and pick up your tickets by 7:00 pm the day of the show. All are welcome to this family-friendly event.For more information or media enquiries please call: Reservations: Media Contact:Sheri Smith or Leah Simms-Karp Deborah RatelleTel: (705) 748-1011 ext. 7923 Tel: (705) 748-1011 ext. 7906Email: twospiritproductions@gmail.comIndigenous Performance Initiatives gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Department of Canadian Heritage for support for professional artists & the Aboriginal Education Council for support for the students.Amazingly, this coincides with Canada's first Water Week ! See links for more info about this precious life force:
***************************DANCING EARTH continues professional development with master classes for company members in forms such as powwow, butoh, ballet, modern dance, acting, yoga, feldenkrais, folklorico, gaga and Indigenous contemporary dance with acclaimed teachers based in New Mexico, including Raoul Trujillo, Adam McKinney, Roger Montoya, Fletcher Nickerson , Jacoh Cortes, Rima Miller, Deirdre Morris, Hallie Dalsimer, and Echo Gustafson.We also will be building our Dancing Earth teaching cucciculum with skill sharing between company members, who individually hold experience in areas such as yoga, Horton technique, capoeira, chi gong, king fu, and more.Rehearsals will resume for performances at UC Riverside on April 22, and for the San Francisco International Arts Festival on May 20th !