ASAP presenting at ON THE EDGE Fringe 2024

The poster for the ALL MY R(el)ATIONS presentation for the ON THE EDGE Fringe Festival's 2024 Duality Program.

ALL MY R(EL)ATIONS
Presented by ON THE EDGE Fringe Festival
August 13th @ 8 pm
181 Oak St. W

Aanmitaagzi is extremely excited to be invited by the ON THE EDGE Fringe Festival to once again participate in their 2024 Duality program.

For this year’s program, we will be presenting a live multi-arts performance from our current multi-year project ALL MY R(el)ATIONS. The presentation will include dancing, storytelling/spoken word, singing, drumming, and art installations, and will take place on the green space beside the Dionne Quints Museum (181 Oak St. W). The performance is about 40 minutes long and will begin around 8 pm. There is no admission fee and all are welcome. This is an outdoor performance so be sure to dress appropriately for the weather and to bring a chair or blanket to sit on.

Artist Statement

The artists and participants of this year’s Summer Arts Program have been working hard over the last six weeks to prepare for this presentation. The collaboratively created and performed work is an investigation and expression of indigenous dance and our myths. We have spent weeks singing, dancing, regalia making, story-telling, and travelling to pow wows. This performance has grown out of these activities and what lies in our hearts and minds.

The Aanmitaagzi Summer Arts Program (ASAP) is an 8-week intensive in indigenous performing and visual arts. Now in its seventeenth year, the program faculty is led by award winning and renowned professional indigenous artists and educators. Participants learn, share, express and create alongside our professional multi-arts team.

ALL MY R(el)ATIONS, our latest work-in-progress, explores our historic abundance in opposition to systemic oppression and poverty. How much of what we have now, is a ration; a small shadow of what we once had? What are we entitled to? What dances, stories, songs and language is our birthright?

ALL MY R(el)ATIONS explores historically rooted ways in which we make a return to abundance by connecting to ourselves and all of Creation.

This work is co-created and performed by:

Albany Benson, Sid Bobb, Penny Couchie, Ouske Couchie-Bobb, Niganii Dokis, Sherry Guppy, Autumn Hookimaw, Skyler Hookimaw, Mya Katt, Waseskwan Linklater, Malia Mathias-Mizzi, William McGrath, Darren Nakogee, Finn Rice, and Shania Splane.

With Special Guests:

Blair Beaucage, Katie Couchie, Brennan Govender, Olivia Shortt, Cody Sutherland, Ronnie Turner, and more!


Aanmitaagzi wishes to thank the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Government of Canada’s Canada Summer Jobs Program, Mushkegowuk Employment & Training Services, the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre’s Apatisiwin Program, and the ON THE EDGE Fringe Festival for generously supporting this project and the 2024 Summer Arts Program.

Misdemeanor Dream in South Dakota

Production image for Misdemeanor Dream

After several weeks of rehearsals and prep, Spiderwoman Theater’s Misdemeanor Dream is hitting the stage in South Dakota! From February 20 – 24, the company will be at the University of South Dakota (USD) in Vermillion, presenting a series of workshops in addition to two evening performances on Friday and Saturday in the campus’s Knutson Theatre. South Dakota is the first of three stops on Spiderwoman’s three-week midwest tour.

Misdemeanor Dream is a multi-generational, multi-disciplinary theatre project which brings together Indigenous performers, designers, and cultural practitioners from communities across Turtle Island. Weaving uncomfortable conversations with irreverent humour, it sheds light on personal and community stories of chaos and reclamation, of tricksters and spirits, of journeys through the star worlds and the between worlds.

Aanmitaagzi has been working on this project with Spiderwoman since the beginning, and our Co-Artistic Director Penny Couchie, who is the choreographer for Misdemeanor Dream, travelled to New York City earlier this month to be part of the rehearsal process. After briefly returning home, Penny and other members of the company are now in South Dakota to help with the production, including putting up the installation & set pieces that were developed at Big Medicine Studio and helping to facilitate the workshops.

Here are a couple of images of the installation at USD, the set being built, and the storyweaving workshop facilitated by Muriel Miguel, Penny Couchie, and Imelda Villalon.Photo of the Misdemeanor Dream installation at USD.

Photo of Aanmitaagzi members showing the installation work for Misemeanor Dream.Set building for Misdemeanor Dream in SDMisdemeanor Dream storyweaving workshopAanmitaagzi would like to acknowledge and thank everyone that has supported and been a part of this project over the years. It has been an amazing project to work on and we are thrilled to continue to be a part of it.

2024 Winter Workshops

Poster for the 2024 Winter Workshop series.Our weekly workshop series is back with a great set of winter workshops to keep you busy until Spring!

On Tuesdays from 3:30 – 5:30 pm we have All Ages Making with Sherry Guppy, a drop-in multi-arts creation session for artists of all ages. Materials will be provided.

On Thursdays from 3:30 – 5:30 pm we have Yoga/Dance with Animikiikwe Couchie-Waukey & Penny Couchie. A blend of yoga, movement, and dance, this workshop will help participants to build on their strengths and knowledge of their bodies, help them to unleash their creativity and power, and get everyone moving! No yoga or dance experience required.

The workshops will run from now until March 7th, and are open to people of all ages and abilities. For more information, please contact Sid or Penny at (705) 474-2227.

Winter Solstice Celebration 2023

Poster for the 2023 Winter Solstice celebration.

To celebrate the season and our All My R(el)ations project, Aanmitaagzi will be hosting a Winter Solstice Celebration at Big Medicine Studio on December 15th from 5 – 8 pm. The evening’s festivities will include a community dinner, art making stations, a display of works developed through our Fall & Winter Workshops, as well as presentations of songs, stories, poetry, and comedic improv. There will also be an opportunity for you to share through the open mic portion of the evening. This event is free to attend, and all are welcome.

For more information, please contact Penny or Sid at (705) 474-2227 or email aanmitaagzi@gmail.com.

House Concert & Open Mic Night – December 9th

Poster for the House Concert & Open Mic Night on December 9, 2023

Please join us for another House Concert & Open Mic event featuring Migizi Country (Leland Bell, Dan Commanda, Tyler Dokis, and Dave Miner) on Saturday, December 9th from 1 – 4 pm. Bring your songs, stories, poems, and dancing shoes for an afternoon of music and fun! Admission is free but we will be collecting non-perishable or cash donations for the local food bank.

For more information please contact Sid Bobb at (705) 474-2227 or bobbsid@hotmail.com.