Raven Spirit Dance presents IndigenousGround Community Class Series in Dance Story and Song
Raven Spirit Dance presents a series of FREE community classes and master class workshops at the Scotiabank Dance Centre in Contemporary and Aboriginal Traditional Dance, Story and Song in celebration of our upcoming 10th Anniversary Season.
*classes are open to all levels of experience minimum age 16
Pow-Wow Dance
10:00 AM – 11:15 AM (Kraul Studio)
Instructor: Nyla Carpenter
Voice & Song
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM (Studio 7)
Instructor: Russell Wallace
Bannock & Tea Gathering
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Studio 7)
**Join Raven Spirit Dance for an informal gathering of community members and supporters over bannock and tea. Let’s chat, let’s network and let’s eat. Everyone welcome!
North West Coastal Dance
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM (Jarislowsky Studio)
Instructor: Margaret Grenier
MASTER CLASS – Contemporary Dance Practices
2:30 PM – 4:30 PM (Jarislowsky Studio)
Instructor: Michelle Olson
West Coast Dance & Story
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM (Studio 7)
Instructor: Bob Baker
Contemporary Practices (beginner/all levels)
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM (Studio 7)
Instructor: Starr Muranko
Traditional Metis Jigging
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM (Birmingham Studio)
Instructor: Yvonne Chartrand
MASTER CLASS – Storyweaving
12:30 PM – 2:30 PM (Jarislowsky Studio)
Instructor: Muriel Miguel
MASTER CLASS – An Actor’s Eye in a Dancers Body
2:30 PM – 4:30 PM (Jarislowsky Studio)
Instructor: Tasha Faye Evans
For more information please contact info@ravenspiritdance.com or call (604) 646.0010
Pow-Wow Dance with Nyla Carpentier
An introduction to the different styles of pow-wow dance and the basic steps of traditional, jingle & fancy. Both men & women styles will be emphasized.
Nyla Carpentier was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and is of the Tahltan Nation. She is also of French and Scottish decent. Since the age of three, Nyla has been involved with the performing arts through dance as a native powwow dancer. Currently she lives in Vancouver, BC and has completed her artistic training with Full Circle: First Nations Performance Training Ensemble. Theatre and Dance have become the two main focuses in Nyla’s life. Her goals are to blend both her passions of dance and theatre as well as pursue a multifaceted career in the arts.
Voice & Song with Russell Wallace
Explores the singing from Salish perspectives of music. Focus given to breath, articulation of vocables and how it all relates to the philosophy and worldview of the Salish people.
Russell Wallace is a composer, producer and is a traditional Lil’wat singer from the Lil’wat Nation. Wallace’s music has been part of a number of soundtracks (film, video, television) and theatre/ dance productions. He was the composer in residence for the Chinook Winds Aboriginal Dance program from1996-2003 at the Banff Centre for the Arts. He has produced CD’s that have been nominated for awards at the Juno’s, Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, and at the Native American Music Awards in the USA. Currently Wallace works and teaches at the Native Education College.
North West Coastal Dance Technique with Margaret Grenier
Westcoast Traditional technique is an interactive dance movement class including background history on the BC Coastal First Nations, as well as Prairie culture. Through basic movement instruction and sharing of song & story, participants will engage in the shared experience of dance in community.
Margaret Grenier is of Gitxsan and Cree ancestry, She is the Executive and Artistic Director for the Dancers of Damelahamid which is dedicated to reviving Gitxsan dance traditions and presenting Aboriginal dance. She choreographed and produced the full length works Setting the Path 2004 and Sharing the Spirit 2007 which toured internationally to New Zealand and the Cook islands in 2008 and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China. She choreographed and produced Visitors Who Never Left as a site specific work in 2009 and choreographed Dancing our Stories and Spirit in Tradition in 2010. Margaret directed and produced the Coastal First Nations Dance Festival since 2008 that has showcased Indigenous dance from the BC coast, Alaska, the Yukon, Australia and New Zealand.
Contemporary Dance Practices with Michelle Olson
A somatic approach to contemporary dance, participants will hone their skills in moving through space with expressivity, challenging the edges of their physicality & sourcing from their inner life. Attuning their minds to their bodies & investigating ways to prepare for the day in a way that allows the spirit to express itself.
Michelle Olson is a member of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation and the Artistic Director of Raven Spirit Dance. Her work as a performer and creator embraces the arenas of dance, choreography, theatre, storytelling and community development. She received a Bachelor of University Studies at the University of New Mexico and continued her dance training at the Aboriginal Arts Program at the Banff Centre. Michelle is also a Certified Movement Analyst in Laban/Bartenieff and Somatic Studies.
West Coast Dance & Story with Bob Baker
Focuses on the creative process of traditional songs by sharing Ancestral songs & dances from the Squamish peoples and will explore how to compliment a song with dance as well as traditions, teachings and rules of the Squamish Sea Going Canoes & Longhouse.
Robert Bakers’ ancestral name is S’apluk and is the leader and co-founder of “S’pak’wus Slúlum” Eagle Song Dancers since 1994 and has been involved in his culture all his life. Born in 1946 and raised on the Squamish Nation, Bob has been singing and dancing his peoples’ stories for over 27 years. He is known for his work at the Híwus Feast house & the Cultural Centre on Grouse Mountain, as well as his international collaborations with performing artists in Canada, Japan, Taiwan, and Switzerland.
Contemporary Dance (Beginner/All-Levels) with Starr Muranko
An introductory class for all levels of experience focusing on connecting more deeply with your body and breath while finding your natural movement expression. Class will consist of a basic warm-up, exercises across the floor and movement exploration drawing on themes of land, place and identity.
Starr Muranko is a professional dancer/choreographer and Artistic Associate with Raven Spirit Dance. Her recent choreographic work has been presented at the Scotiabank Dance Centre, Dancing on the Edge, the Talking Stick Festival and Crimson Coast Dance Society. She is currently leading a cross-cultural research project “Spine of the Mother” between artists in Canada and Peru that will premiere in the Fall of 2014. Starr is a proud member of the Dancers of Damelahamid and has performed and toured across Canada with this company as well as internationally to New Zealand, Peru and Ecuador. She holds a BFA in Dance from SFU’s School for Contemporary Arts and has trained and performed at the School for Performing Arts in Ghana, West Africa and the American Conservatory of Theatre in San Francisco. Starr is passionate about teaching dance to movers of all ages and levels of experience and encourages a somatic-based approach to movement that nurtures creativity, strength and personal expression.
Traditional Metis Jigging with Yvonne Chartrand
Includes traditional and contemporary styles of The Red River Jig, known as the national dance of the Métis plus traditional Métis dances & Métis square dances.
Yvonne Chartrand is a contemporary dance choreographer and dancer as well as a national award-winning master Métis jigger and instructor. Her ancestors come from the Métis community of St. Laurent, Manitoba. Yvonne is the Artistic Director of Compaigni V’ni Dansi (created in 2000), whose name translates as “Come and Dance” in Mitchif. Dancers perform traditional Métis dance under the name of the Louis Riel Métis Dancers and contemporary works as Compaigni V’ni Dansi. The company has had the pleasure of performing for events as diverse as the Vancouver International Children’s Festival, Heart of the City Festival, Talking Stick Festival, Noon Dance Series and many Aboriginal Day Festivals. Yvonne is a winner of the 2011 Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Storyweaving Workshop wtih Muriel Miguel
Investigate the unique process that the women of Spiderwoman Theater use to create their plays. “Storyweaving” describes the layering of stories, images, sound, movement and music, creating a three dimensional tapestry which is embodied in space and becomes the theatre production. Incorporating the exercises that have been learned in the workshop, the participants will collectively build a performance of the stories which they will then present.
Spiderwoman Theater Founder and Artistic Director Muriel Miguel, talks about her fascinating journey from the streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn to her pioneering contributions to the current feminist and Indigenous theatre movements in the United States, Canada and around the world. Experience this extraordinary life through photos and video from the last 50 years.
Muriel Miguel is a director, choreographer, playwright, actor and educator. She has directed almost all of Spiderwoman’s shows since their debut in 1976, in which time, they have written and produced over twenty original works for the theatre. She grew up performing with her family and at the age of twelve was the co-founder, with Louis Mofsie, of the Little Eagles, a group that is still active in New York City and is now known as the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers. Muriel studied modern dance with Alwin Nickolais, Erick Hawkins and Jean Erdman. She was an original member of Joseph Chaikin’s Open Theater where she performed in the groundbreaking works: Terminal, The Serpent, Mère Ubu and Viet Rock.
An Actor’s Eye in a Dancers Body with Tasha Faye-Evans
A dancer’s investigation of “seeing ” while dancing. Integrating an actor’s technique into the dancer’s practice, participants will explore how to bring their “eyes” into their dance. Exploring theatrical concepts of eye focus, view points, and visual imagery dancers will discover how to use their eyes as tools for activating and inspiring deeper connections to self, partners and choreography.
Tasha Faye Evans has been a member of Vancouver’s innovative and multi-disciplinary dance and theatre community for over twenty years. Her work as a performer and co-creator includes the critically acclaimed productions of Box, and Bewildered with Radix Theatre, The Beginners with Boca Del Lupo, and her own one-woman play, She Stands Still. She has performed in various productions with the Arts Club, Ravenspirit Dance, Touchstone Theatre and The Firehall Arts Centre. She has toured to Colombia, performing She Stands Still in the International Woman’s Festival for World Peace. Tasha’s most recent work includes the development of La Violencia. This is an international collaboration with Colombian aerial dancer and choreographer Diana Casas. A workshop showing of this multi- disciplinary piece was presented at La Mascara Theatre in Cali, Colombia. Tasha teaches dance, theatre and play writing and enjoys working within her community facilitating others to express their stories. Tasha is dedicated to contributing to the network of artistic Indigenous communities world-wide and bringing contemporary Aboriginal stories to the forefront of conventional theatre and dance.