Tag Archives: performances

Niimi’iwe Dance Double Bill at Native Earth Performing Arts

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Aanmitaagzi is very excited to present Conversations: Hidden Stories with Vanguardia Dance Projects as part of the Niimi’iwe Dance Double Bill at Native Earth Performing Arts this week! The show will run from February 5 – 8, 2026 at Aki Studio in Toronto, and will be accompanied by a workshop led by Vanguardia’s Co-Artistic Director Norma Papalotl Araiza at 11:00 am on Saturday. The other half of the Double Bill is Spine of the Mother by Raven Spirit Dance, and you can find out more about both productions below.

CONVERSATIONS: HIDDEN STORIES

Conversations was inspired by the investigation of “body and territory” by the Colombian-Canadian choreographer Olga Barrios. This work springs forth from the women of many colours that she experiences in herself and the many other voices in the world that seek connection with ideas of traces erased from history. In 2023, under the direction of Olga, the artists of Vanguardia and Aanmitaagzi came together with the desire to share, investigate and explore the land, people, culture and stories we are connected to. Looking at stories of displacement and erasure, Conversations is a journey through what has separated us from ourselves and each other. Through soil, fabric, land and water, the work reaffirms a sovereign right to ancestral memory, connection and future.

Photo by Colin Boyd Shafer

CREDITS:

Creators: Norma Araiza, Penny Couchie, Animikiikwe Couchie, Lilia León, Olga Barrios
Dancers: Norma Araiza, Lilia León, Olga Barrios
Guest Dancers: Lucia Llano, Maria Riaño
Director & Choreographer: Olga Barrios
Composer and Sound Designer: Edgardo Moreno
Projection Designs: Alejandra Higuera and Olga Barrios
Visual Artist: Sherry Guppy, Alejandra Higuera
Costumes: Jennifer Kelly
Lighting Design: Trevor Schwellnus
Stage Manager: Kelsey Ruhl

SPINE OF THE MOTHER

Tracing the inner terrain of our bodies as women through breath, impulse and memory unlocks kinetic energy creating ritual, which spans the spine of the mountain range we have shared for millennia.

The metaphor of the “Spine of Mother Earth” is a name given by Indigenous Elders in South America to the Andean mountain range that spans from the base in Argentina, through the Americas and ends at the tip of Alaska. Our bodies become the landscape like the mountain ranges that connect the North and South (the Eagle and the Condor) and through this we find our kinetic connection to others that transmits impulse, breath and spirit.

Spine of the Mother began as an innovative collaboration with Indigenous artists in Canada and Peru and over the past decade has been performed across Canada and most recently internationally at the Kia Mau Festival in Wellington, New Zealand as part of Raven Spirit Dance’s 20th Anniversary tour.

Photo by Yasu Okada

CREDITS:

Choreography: Starr Muranko
In collaboration with and performed by Tasha Faye Evans * and Marisa Gold *
Past performers and artistic lineage: Andrea Patriau, Olivia Shaffer and Sarah Formosa
Produced by: Raven Spirit Dance
Original Sound composition by: Edgardo Moreno (‘Gracias a la Vida’ sung by Daniela Andrade)
Lighting Design: Jonathan Kim
Video/Media Design: Sammy Chien
Dramaturge and Mentor: Alvin Tolentio
Mentor: Michelle Olson
Cultural Advisor: Jhaimy Alvarez-Acosta (Peru)
Original Costume Design: Ines Ortner
Additional costume design + Additional Dramaturgy: Alejandro Ronceria

* The participation of this Artist (these Artists) is arranged by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the provisions of the Dance Opera Theatre Policy (DOT).

SHOWS:

Thursday, February 5th @ 7:30pm
Friday, February 6th @ 7:30pm
Saturday, February 7th @ 7:30pm
Sunday, February 8th @ 2:00pm

To buy tickets, please visit Native Earth’s website or click here.

House Concert on November 15th

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We’re hosting another House Concert and Open Mic session on Saturday, November 15th from 1 to 5 pm. We’ll start things off with Migizi Country (Dan Commanda, Dave Miner, and Leland Bell), and then the afternoon will continue with songs, stories, and spoken word performances from invited guests and audience members. Pre-registration is not required, but is appreciated if you plan on taking a turn at the mic. Light refreshments will be served and all are welcome.

For more information, or to sign up for the open mic session, please contact Sid Bobb at (705) 474-2227 or aanmitaagzi@gmail.com.

ASAP 2025 presenting Catch and Release on August 21st

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Catch and Release
Culminating performance for the 2025 Aanmitaagzi Summer Arts Program

August 21, 2025 at 7 pm
Big Medicine Studio
161 Couchie Memorial Dr, Nipissing First Nation

Aanmitaagzi and the participants of the 2025 Aanmitaagzi Summer Arts Program are pleased to invite you all to Catch and Release, the culminating performance for this year’s program. The artists and youth participants have been working hard since the beginning of July to develop and prepare for this presentation through singing, dancing, regalia making, storytelling, visual explorations, attending pow wows, and other arts activities. The collaboratively created and performed work is an investigation and expression of indigenous dance and storytelling that has grown out of these activities and what lies in the hearts and minds of everyone involved. The presentation is free to attend and all are welcome.

The Aanmitaagzi Summer Arts Program (ASAP) is an annual 8-week intensive in indigenous performing and visual arts. Now in its eighteenth year, the program is led by award winning and renowned professional indigenous artists and educators. The program gives indigenous youth the opportunity to learn, share, express and create alongside our professional multi-arts team, guest artists, and community-members in a collaborative, inter-generational, and welcoming space.

Catch and Release is co-created and performed by:

Lead Artists – Sid Bobb, Penny Couchie, Katie Couchie, and Darren Nakogee with special guests Doreen Bellaire and Animikiikwe Couchie-Waukey

Program Participants – Albany Benson, Ouske Couchie-Bobb,  Lukas Driedger, Autumn Hookimaw, Mya Katt, Markus Lazary, William McGrath, Tayton  Mianskum, Malia Mathias-Mizzi, Niibin Nakogee, Finn Rice, and Shania Splane

Set by Sherry Guppy with Laura Linklater-Wong and Paige Linklater-Wong

Aanmitaagzi wishes to thank the Government of Canada through the Canada Council for the Arts and the Canada Summer Jobs Program, the Ontario Government through the Ontario Arts Council, Mushkegowuk Employment & Training Services, Moose Cree Training & Employment Unit, and the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre’s Apatisiwin Program for generously supporting the 2025 Summer Arts Program.

 

CONVERSATIONS coming to the Capitol Centre on August 9th

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CONVERSATIONS: Hidden Stories

Aanmitaagzi Story Makers & Vanguardia Dance Projects

August 9th at 7:00 pm
Betty Speers Theatre – Capitol Centre
150 Main St E, North Bay, ON

After premiering in Kitchener earlier this year, Aanmitaagzi Story Makers & Vanguardia Dance Projects are excited to bring CONVERSATIONS: Hidden Stories to the Capitol Centre in North Bay as part of ON THE EDGE Fringe Festival’s 2025 Duality program. This will be a one night only performance. Admission is free, but the festival is accepting PWYC donations to help offset costs.

CONVERSATIONS: Hidden Stories is a dialogue of bodies extended in various latitudes of the Americas. Starting from the investigation of “body and territory” by the Colombian-Canadian choreographer Olga Barrios, this work seeks a conversation between women through the Americas, seeking a South-North echo. Barrios’ research/creation explores the traces of Indigenous heritage that have been erased in her journey, as has happened with many people in various places in America and the planet. This work is based on the woman of many colours that she experiences in herself and with the many other voices in the world that seek connection with ideas of traces erased from history.

Production Credits

Dancers & Text Creators: Norma Araiza, Olga Barrios, Penny Couchie, Animikiikwe Couchie-Waukey, Lilia León
Composer & Sound Designer: Edgardo Moreno
Projection Artist: Alejandra Higuera in collaboration with Olga Barrios
Costumes: Jennifer Kelly
Lighting Design: Trevor Schwellnus
Installation Artists: Aanmitaagzi with Sherry Guppy (lead), Sid Bobb, Penny Couchie, Katie Couchie, and Olivia Shortt.
Director & Choreographer: Olga Barrios
Stage Manager: Kelsey Ruhl

Locations of work development: Big Medicine Studio (Nipissing First Nation), Arcadia Artists Co-op & National Ballet of Canada (Toronto)

On stage canvas installation developed by Aanmitaagzi artists in collaboration with the participants of the 2023 Aanmitaagzi Summer Arts Program at Big Medicine Studio in Nipissing First Nation.

About the Companies:

Vanguardia Dance Projects is a collective focused on creating, presenting, promoting and supporting works of dance artists with Latin American and Indigenous backgrounds living in Canada. We intend to promote an ongoing exchange and collaboration with international dance organizations and artists. We are interested in the dissemination of contemporary artistic practices of dance artists with Latin American background in Canada, maintaining conversations with the rest of the country and the world. We support innovative artists that include other art disciplines pushing the boundaries of what is called “contemporary” as well as works that, having dance as the core, reflect a permanent search of expression through different languages. www.vanguardiadanceprojects.com

Aanmitaagzi Story Makers is an Indigenous multi-disciplinary artist-run company based in Nipissing First Nation. Linked to provincial, national and international networks, we are committed to fostering a vibrant arts community through community-engaged projects that promote well-being, strengthen relationships with the land, and incorporate intergenerational approaches and methodologies. We combine art-making, education, professional development & social activism through contemporary and customary arts, nurturing historic Indigenous arts practices and exploring how these practices can be carried forward in a meaningful contemporary context. www.aanmitaagzi.net

House Concert & Open Mic – May 4, 2025

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Aanmitaagzi is hosting a House Concert and Open Mic session on Sunday, May 4th from 1 to 5 pm. Kicking off with an amazing set by Migizi Country (Dan Commanda & Leland Bell), the afternoon will continue with songs, stories, and spoken word performances from guests and audience members. Pre-registration is not required, but is appreciated if you plan on taking a turn at the mic. Light refreshments will be served and all are welcome.

For more information, or to sign up for the open mic session, please contact Sid Bobb at (705) 474-2227 or aanmitaagzi@gmail.com.

Hope to see you there!