Starr Muranko draws from personal tribulations, and joy, in Chapter 21, at Presentation House Theatre March 17
The Raven Spirit Dance artist dances through the experience of becoming a mother at the same time as facing a cancer diagnosis
Chapter 21. Photo by Erik Zennström
Chapter 21 is at Presentation House Theatre on March 17
IF YOU MISSED dance artist Starr Muranko’s deeply personal solo Chapter 21 when it debuted at the Firehall Arts Centre in 2021, you have a second chance to catch the indelible, heartfelt piece.
As she told Stir in an interview at the time of the Raven Spirit Dance premiere, Chapter 21 grew out of a difficult year in her life.
When Muranko was pregnant with her son Sami, she found out he had an extra copy of Chromosone 21, and would live with Down Syndrome. Just as she was processing the realities of a condition she knew next to nothing about, Muranko was diagnosed with breast cancer, facing a taxing chemo treatment regime every 21 days.
The number 21 began to take on new meaning in her life. It also started to make her think about a concept in behavioural psychology that it takes 21 days to re-pattern beliefs, or for a resolution to become a new habit.
The trials, worries, and ultimate resilience and joy find artful reflection in the dance piece. Tiny moccasins take on symbolic meaning in a spotlight; elsewhere, look for a meaningful pair of blue shoes that were a gift from Muranko’s grandmother, and the equally poignant use of scarves. The soundscape, punctuated with spoken memories, is hauntingly beautiful and dreamlike.
Muranko, who is of Omushkegowuk Cree (Moose Cree First Nation), French and German ancestry, is a well-known, longtime member of the Northwest Coast troupe Dancers of Damelahamid—an ensemble in which her son now dances at her side. In a very special pair of moccasins.
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