DanceHouse to stream Red Sky Performance's 20th-anniversary story, More than Dance, We are a Movement

The film by one of Canada’s leading contemporary Indigenous companies blends work excerpts and interviews, April 14 to 20

POST SPONSORED BY DANCEHOUSE

Red Sky Performance’s Trace. Photo by Marc J. Chalifoux

DanceHouse’s Digidance series is set to stream a film celebrating Red Sky Performance’s 20th-anniversary story.

The Toronto-based troupe is a leading company of contemporary Indigenous performance, both in Canada and worldwide.

The show streaming April 14 to 20, More Than Dance, We Are A Movement, incorporates excerpts from Red Sky’s award-winning interdisciplinary work alongside interviews with the collaborators who have participated in the company’s remarkable journey.

See the newly released video below, which shows the troupe’s dazzling beat-driven mix of dance, theatre, music, and new media.

One of the film’s focuses is founder and artistic director Sandra Laronde, whose artistic vision propelled Red Sky Performance to its prominence and critical acclaim. Her Anishinaabemowin name is Misko Kizhigoo Migizii Kwe, which means “Red Sky Eagle Woman” to the Teme-Augama Anishinaabe (People of the Deep Water).

 Amid the works on view here, Trace is a highly kinetic contemporary dance work inspired by Anishinaabe sky and star stories, offering a glimpse into human origins as star people as well as visions of our future evolution.

Elsewhere, Miigis focuses on the “perfect breath” of life, a symbol that informs an origin story of travel from the Atlantic Coast to the Great Lakes. Fusing contemporary Indigenous dance with powerful athleticism, Miigis explores the catalysts for movement, ancestral forces and living memory, and the cycle of life.

With works like these, Red Sky has earned many formal accolades over its two-decade history, including 16 Dora Mavor Moore awards and nominations, two Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, three International Youth Drama Awards from Shenzhen, China, and the Smithsonian Expressive Award.

 You can purchase tickets and find more info here.

Digidance is a national streaming initiative by Vancouver’s DanceHouse, Montreal’s Danse Danse, Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, and Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, co-presented with Calgary’s Springboard Performance.

This post was sponsored by DanceHouse.