Past Productions
Walking at the Edge of Water
2012 - 2013
Walking at the Edge of Water is an inter-tribal contemporary dance expression of global Indigenous water perspectives. Every creative aspect of this eco-production reflects cultural and environmental worldview, with Indigenous collaborators in movement, musical composition, language, video imagery, costume and visual art. This work was first commissioned by Trent University’s Marrie Mumford for the Nozhem Theater and Ayaandagon Garden in Peterborough Ontario , with suppor oft Anishnaabeg grandmothers in protection of sacred waters . Invoking powerfully relevant water themes of creation, destruction and renewal, WALKING AT THE EDGE OF WATER parallels ancestral healing rituals in a prophetic dance of inter-disciplinary expressions.
“changing patterns and suggestions of drama”
- NY Times
Of Bodies of Elements
2009 - 2011
Of Bodies Of Elements (OBOE) - emerges from the deep soul of the land , embodying the themes of humans in relationship with cardinal elements in a primal yet articulate language of movement that speaks to all beings. The performance expresses the ensemble’s passionate exploration of the intersection of ritual, culture, and ecology.
“A thoroughly contemporary work with performers- men and women alike–whose athleticism and multifarious talents and training acknowledge the air as much as the ground under their feet . . . Stirring! . . . I wouldn’t give up a second of the opening, which imagines the natural world- including a splendid tree emerging from an inchoate mass . . . Excellently danced.” - Rita Felciano, San Francisco Guardian review of performance in San Francisco
“One of the most successful translations of traditional culture into contemporary performance that I have ever seen.” - Myrna Loy Theater Executive director Ed Noonan, MT
“What happened here tonight is so special, it’s indescribable.” - Hereditary Chief James Saint Goddard of the Blackfoot Confederacy, MT
Groundworks Alcatraz
2018
Groundworks Alcatraz is a multidisciplinary, mobile, site responsive performance art installation that amplifies the often-forgotten Native presence under one's feet anywhere in the Americas. Embodying cultural aesthetic values around the indivisibility of community, land, history, with ancestral songs and live tracks spun by a DJ, Groundworks disrupts settler-colonizer notions with contemporary performance highlighting forgotten histories. Groundworks was built on long of cultural relations with CA Native friends as central collaborators, alongside intercultural artists, with cultural research in fall 2017, with gatherings in winter, spring and summer, and culminated in a public performance on Alcatraz for Indigenous People’s Day Ceremony in Fall 2018.
“Very much appreciate the work that you do and the creative spirit-prayerful way that you bring it into the world. Something we all need to have to renew ourselves in an ongoing way.” - Gregg Castro
Toasterlab’s Involvement
Toasterlab’s role in the Groundworks projects has been to listen deeply and to support the collaborators with innovative media production. Throughout the process of Groundworks, Toasterlab produced both flat and 360-degree video for archival and documentary purposes. Some of the footage produced by Toasterlab was included in the live and virtual performances that came out of Groundworks. From 2020 to 2022, Toasterlab has worked with Indigenous collaborators to assemble this footage into an hour-long documentary about Groundworks, which will air on U.S. public television beginning October 1, 2022.
Toasterlab also provided design and technical advising services, as well as media installation services, and scenography, for a performance of the Groundworks dance work that was part of Rotunda Dance Series in San Francisco’s City Hall. Toasterlab produced pre-show showings of Groundworks virtual reality dance performances at Indigenize the Bay and Between Underground and SkyWorld, a Dancing Earth performance.