Public Energy Performing Arts is bringing one of Canada’s leading Indigenous dance companies to Peterborough/Nogojiwanong for the first time on Tuesday (November 26).
A Vancouver-based Gitxsan and Cree dance company, Dancers of Damelahamid will be at the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. for a one-night-only performance as part of a four-city tour for their latest production, Raven Mother.
“Raven Mother speaks to our current realities, drawing from a rich lineage of teachings and insights,” reads a media release from Public Energy.
Founded in 1967, Dancers of Damelahamid is known for work that blends Indigenous dance forms and regalia with modern projections and technologies. This balance is exemplified in Raven Mother, which is a culmination of generations of art and culture and is rich with details that pay homage to tradition and the people who have come before.
Having recently premiered in Vancouver, Raven Mother honours the late co-founder of the intergenerational company, Elder Margaret Harris, who passed away in 2020.
A respected Cree Elder from northern Manitoba, she spent much of her life on the northwest coast of British Columbia with her husband Chief Kenneth Harris, a former Gitxsan chief with whom she founded Dancers of Damelahamid.
Through the company and beyond, Elder Harris dedicated her life to the revitalization and teachings of Indigenous cultural practices, including song, dance, stories, and regalia making.
Raven Mother illustrates the impact of Elder Harris and the integral role of women in holding cultural knowledge. Labelled by Public Energy as the Dancers of Damelahamid’s “most ambitious production to date,” Raven Mother interweaves movement, song, regalia, sculpture, and design with the narrative.
“It celebrates our mothers who created the stronghold of these art forms and influenced the next generation of women,” the release states. “Raven Mother illuminates the profound leadership of our mothers, their essential contribution in this resurgence, and the force and transformation of this awakening.”
While the choreography will captivate audiences, it’s the intentional, minor details throughout the production that embody the messaging. For example, the musical score by By Raven Grenier and Ted Hamilton features songs in the endangered northwestern language of Gitxsanimx, set against an ethereal soundscape.
The show also includes intricate transformation masks that open to reveal more masks. The masks, created by Andy Grenier under the mentorship of master carver David A. Boxley, were specifically made for the show to symbolize the intergenerational transfer of knowledge.
Rounding out the wardrobe, fashion designer Rebecca Baker-Grenier has designed an elaborate array of regalia including a feathered Raven cloak, a traditional Gitxsan piece that has not been seen in performance for generations.
Public Energy notes that through a manifestation in various forms, the Raven crest embodies “transformation, the strengthening of culture, the unveiling of a new spirit, and breathing life into a promise made to the children of generations to come.”
Through the blend of culture and transformation, Raven Mother not only pays respect to those who have come before but inspires the next generation to continue to build on tradition.
“Raven Mother is a tangible remembrance of a woman’s spirit, marking the shift between generations that has sparked a new role for our daughters as the force to hold their grandmother’s vision,” states Public Energy.
Raven Mother runs for 75 minutes and is appropriate for the whole family.
Tickets are available on a sliding scale from $5 to $50 in person at the Market Hall box office (140 Charlotte St, Peterborough), by phone at 705-775-1503, or online at tickets.markethall.org.
To learn more about Public Energy’s 2024-25 season, visit www.publicenergy.ca.
VIDEO: “Raven Mother” by Dancers of Damelahamid
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