Raven Mother
Artist: Dancers of Damelahamid
Mainstage Presentation
Russian Hall (600 Campbell Street, Vancouver)
Thursday February 6 @ 8pm,
Saturday February 8 @ 5pm
Duration: 30 minute excerpt
Raven Mother – Dancers of Damelahamid
Photo by Michael Slobodian
Image description: A masked dancer reaches up to the sky. A carved headpiece and black dentallium cape is worn with a blue and red carved mask with Northwest Coast Indigenous design.
Raven Mother is the Dancers of Damelahamid’s newly choreographed dance work in honour of late Elder Margaret Harris (1931 – 2020). Raven Mother illustrates the vast impact Elder Harris had on the revitalization of Indigenous dance along the Northwest Coast. Raven Mother illuminates the profound leadership of our mothers, their essential contribution in this resurgence, and the force and transformation of this awakening.
Raven Mother is the Dancers of Damelahamid’s most ambitious production and will be the culmination of generations of artistic and cultural work. With Raven Mother, movement, song, regalia, sculpture, and design, are interwoven with the embodied narrative. Raven Mother speaks to our current realities, drawing from a rich lineage of teachings and insights. 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.
For HOLD ON LET GO, this will be a 30-minute excerpt of the full length work.
There will be a talk back following the show, facilitated by Starr Muranko, Co-Artistic Director of Raven Spirit Dance Society.
Artistic director and choreographer: Margaret Grenier
Set design and artwork: Andrew Grenier
Regalia design and creation: Rebecca Baker-Grenier
Song composer and vocalist: Raven Grenier
Collaborating Composer: Ted Hamilton
Lighting design: Jeff Harrison
Projection design: Andy Moro
Collaborating director: Charles Koroneho
Northwest Coast artists: David A. Boxley, David R. Boxley, Jim Charlie, Raven Grenier, Kandi McGilton
Elders: Betsy Lomax, Lawrence Trottier
Performers: Margaret Grenier, Rebecca Baker-Grenier, Raven Grenier, Nigel Baker-Grenier, Renée Harris
Production/Stage Manager: Andy Grenier
Technical director: Jeff Harrison
Raven Mother is developed with support from the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund.
Dancers of Damelahamid acknowledges the support of Indigenous Arts Residency Program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
Raven Mother is a co-production of The CanDance Network Creation Fund, National Arts Centre, Danse Danse, DanceWorks and Dance Victoria with support from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Co-produced by The CanDance Network Creation Fund, National Arts Centre (Ottawa, Canada), Danse Danse (Montreal), DanceWorks (Toronto), Dance Victoria (Victoria).
Developed with support from: The National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund, the Anvil Theatre, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre (The Cultch), the Venables Theatre, the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council and the Government of Canada, and the Hamber Foundation.
Raven Mother was created with the support of: The Cultch, Anvil Centre, Venables Theatre, Ballet BC, Re:Naissance Opera, CandDance, Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Canadian Heritage, The Hamber Foundation.
THE DANCERS OF DAMELAHAMID is an Indigenous dance company from the Northwest Coast of British Columbia with a rich history of masked dance. The Dancers of Damelahamid has produced the annual Coastal Dance Festival since 2008. Their full-length works include Setting the Path (2004), Sharing the Spirit (2007) and Visitors Who Never Left (2009). Newly created works include Spirit Transforming (2012), In Abundance (2014), Flicker (2016), Mînowin (2019), and Raven Mother (2024).
Information for Presenters: Available for Touring. Premiered October 2024 at The Cultch followed by a national tour.
CONTACT
Kevin Soo-Locsin
kevin@damelahamid.ca
damelahamid.ca
Instagram: @dancersofdamelahamid
Facebook: /Damelahamid