Five people standing in front of mountains

Photo: Melanie Orr

About Our Company

THE ARTISTIC VISION OF RAVEN SPIRIT DANCE IS TO SHARE STORIES FROM AN INDIGENOUS WORLDVIEW

Our medium is contemporary dance. Through our work, we reaffirm the vital importance of dance to the expression of human experience and to cultural reclamation. We offer space for Indigenous artists to tap into artistic practices that are integral to their sense of identity and perspective.

Our Core Values: Generosity · Integrity · Honouring · Courage · Creation

Creative Philosophy

The moment of an impulse is the collision of inherited worldviews, traditional and urban cosmologies, and personal and collective histories. From kinetic memory, one dances and creates and it is how one arrives at an expression that is distinct. Raven Spirit embodies Indigenous expression through contemporary dance, and pushes the boundaries of both the work and our cultural selves.

Our Mission

Our mission is to empower & elevate Indigenous voices through dance. We do this by sharing Indigenous worldviews through:

  • Creation and Performance
  • Mentoring
  • Sharing Opportunities
  • Nurturing Relationships
  • Advocacy

Board of Directors

PRESIDENT – Mary-Elizabeth Manley
TREASURER – Kathleen Mcdonagh
DIRECTOR – Kimowin Lavallee
DIRECTOR – Sharon Muranko
DIRECTOR – June Bird

Staff

MICHELLE OLSON (She/her) - CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Michelle Olson is a member of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation and Co-Artistic Director of Raven Spirit Dance. She studied dance and performance at the University of New Mexico, the Aboriginal Arts Program at the Banff Centre and was an Ensemble Member of Full Circle First Nations Performance.  Michelle works in areas of dance, theatre and opera as a choreographer, director, performer and movement coach Her work has been seen on local, national and international stages.  She recently received her MFA in Directing from the UBC Theatre and Film Department and is currently teaching at Langara’s theatre program, Studio 58.

JEANETTE KOTOWICH (She/Her) - ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE

Originally from Treaty 4 territory Saskatchewan, Jeanette creates work that reflects Nêhiyaw/Métis cosmology within the context of contemporary dance, Indigenous performance, and Indigenous futurity. Fusing inter-cultural collaboration, de-colonial practices and embodied research methodologies; Jeanette’s work references emergence, relationship to the natural/spirit world and Ancestral knowledge. Their practice is intergenerational and vocational; it’s a living and lived experience. Jeanette has self-presented and been programmed at theatres and festivals across Turtle Island and internationally.

Her newest ensemble, BOLT for 4 performers, premieres 2026, at Vancouver International Dance Festival and Festival Transamériques, Montreal. Her solo Kisiskâciwan premiered in Vancouver 2022, and toured to 13 cities nationally, and to Germany and Australia. Her ensemble work Kwê was presented at Matriarchs Uprising and Dance in Vancouver 2021/22. Jeanette is the Artistic Associate at Raven Spirit Dance, collaborator with Lara Kramer Danse, and co-founder of aka collective. She facilitates experiential movement workshops from Indigenous worldview, workshops on de-colonial perspectives in the arts, and is a Métis dance and cultural knowledge carrier. She resides as a guest on the Ancestral and unceded Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ/, and Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territories, colonially known as Vancouver. movementhealing.ca

STARR MURANKO (She/her) - CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Starr Muranko is a dancer, choreographer, Mother, and Co-Artistic Director with Raven Spirit Dance. Her work explores the stories carried within our bodies and the deep connections between land, ancestry, and memory and emphasizes the importance of creative collaboration. Featured works over the past 20 years include Tracing Bones, Chapter 21, Spine of the Mother, before7after, dance films and collaborative work Confluence which have collectively been shared across Canada and internationally.

Since 2005, Starr has been honoured to dance with the Dancers of Damelahamid where she was mentored by the late Elder Margaret Harris and is currently Artist-in-Residence with Ballet BC alongside longtime collaborator Margaret Grenier. An experienced facilitator, Starr offers powerful workshops that invite community into personal story and movement as pathways of connection and remembering. She honours her Omushkegowuk Cree (Moose Cree First Nation – Treaty 9), French, and German ancestry in all that she creates.

MUNEERA WALLACE (She/Her) - MANAGING DIRECTOR

Muneera hails from India, and is honoured to be living on the gorgeous, unceded lands of the Coast Salish People – currently on Salt Spring Island. As managing director, she brings to Raven Spirit her passion for systems and structure, and a curiosity to learn the ways of Indigenous organisation and leadership.

Muneera’s love for supporting people extends to her work in wellness as an Ayurvedic practitioner. Ayurveda is a traditional, East-Indian system of medicine that takes a holistic, nature-based approach to healing.

A hobby dancer herself, Muneera is fascinated by the myriad cultural expressions of dance across the world, and how movement can be a medium for spiritual growth and self-discovery.

Muneera takes pride in directing the operations at Raven Spirit Dance as it grows and flourishes.