Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space and Public Energy Performing Arts are teaming up to give Nogojiwanong/Peterborough audiences a glimpse into new works of two female Indigenous performing artists.
Norma Araiza and Heryka Miranda will be taking to the stage for two shows at Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space on Friday, February 28 and Saturday, March 1 beginning at 7 p.m.
“Norma Araiza and Heryka Miranda are strong female Indigenous performing artists who bring deep practices of connection to cultural roots, earth, and land,” says Jenn Cole, artistic director of Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space, in a media release from Public Energy.
Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space, located on the first floor of Enwayaang Building of Trent University’s Peter Gzowski College, is the only publicly funded Indigenous performance space in Canada.
According to the media release, the two celebrated artists “engage deeply with culture and community in their individual practices.”
Araiza’s work-in-progress “Ewi, What A Dream!” explores a character going through moments of various emotions and sensations during dream time, questioning if it’s a dream or if they are awake.
The character’s journey is “subtly inspired” by the four elements and the directions of the medicine wheel and combines Araiza’s extensive theatrical training with dramatic elements.
Mexican of Yoema Nation and Basque heritage, Araiza is a Toronto-based performer, choreographer, and instructor who finds a unique style blending dance, physical theatre, vocals, percussion, and storytelling with cultural and traditional themes.
She is the co-founder and co-artistic director of Vanguardia Dance Projects, a collective supporting Canadian dance artists with Latin American and Indigenous backgrounds. She also holds a practice as an Expressive Arts Therapist and her work has been presented throughout Mexico, and in Canada, the U.S.A., Colombia, and Hungary.
Joining Araiza, Miranda will be presenting her work-in-progress “Toj,” whose name in the Mayan sacred calendar means to offer payment for the sustenance received throughout life. The choreography is part of the unfolding story of Miranda’s spirit name, Yaz Tz’unun (“Blue Hummingbird”).
Through structured improvisation, Miranda offers an embodied prayer — her Toj — to the seven galactic directions. With love and grief from mourning the loss of loved ones and having let parts of herself die, she offers a prayer of gratitude as she enters a time of rebirth, connecting to the wisdom and teachings of Yaz Tz’unun.
“I believe in creating meaningful moments (magic) through igniting the power of the imagination,” Miranda says.
Miranda is a Guatemalan American dancer, choreographer, and dance educator. Her dance training consists of ecological land dance, expressive art therapies, and sacred dance, and her work has been featured in the documentaries The Sunflower Man and Dance in the Shadow. Holding an M.A. in Health and Physical Education, she teaches dance as education and wellness in university programs and uses ecological land dance practices and expressive arts to works with institutionally vulnerable communities.
“Norma Araiza and Heryka Miranda are old friends of Nozhem — strong female Indigenous performing artists who bring deep practices of connection to cultural roots, earth, and land,” says Cole. “They both dance with fluidity between beings. We look forward to seeing these new works.”
In keeping with Public Energy’s mission to keep performing arts accessible and affordable for everyone, tickets for both shows are priced on a pay-what-you-can sliding scale beginning at $5. As a content warning for audiences, the work includes themes of death.
For more information and tickets, visit publicenergy.ca/performance/new-works-heryka-miranda-and-norma-araiza/.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a long-time media sponsor of Public Energy Performing Arts.
