We will be having an informal sharing of our research week together on Saturday Dec 17th at 5:30pm followed by an artist conversation with those who have come to witness. If you would like to join us for this gathering please send us an email to RSVP at: info@ravenspiritdance.com
Pakitinam: Choreographers Circle provides resources and mentorship to emerging Indigenous choreographers as they develop a work and spark of inspiration of their choice. The program first began as a pilot project in early 2021. After such a positive response from participants we decided to create a permanent program within RSD for emerging Indigenous choreographers called Pakitinam.
The program embraces and celebrates RSD’s mission statement and values which are:
To create and produce contemporary dance that is rooted in Indigenous worldview and honours the communities and artists we work with. We share stories through Indigenous perspectives and practices and create opportunities for others to do the same. We work from the following values: generosity, integrity, honouring and courage.
Pakitinam is an act of demonstrating the power of Indigenous artists coming together to share stories, knowledge and resources in a space of care and empowerment for all in the circle. We are so excited to be continuing the journey this year with these amazing 5 artists who are a part of our inaugural Pakatinam Choreographers Circle: Cherith Mark, Dakota Camacho, Sandra Lamouche, Sasha Rochon and Sophie Dow. We are honoured to have the following Indigenous artists be the mentorship circle holding this work: Troy Emery-Twigg, Cole Alvis, Charles Koreneho, Starr Muranko and Michelle Olson. And a special thank you to Tasha Faye Evans who has been facilitating the choreographers gathering online and holding space for their seeds to be nurtured in a good way throughout this process.
Meet the artists
Cherith Mark
Cherith Mark is from the Stoney Nation in Treaty 7 territory. She started dancing at a young age, dancing traditional pow wow. She studied dance and theatre at Grant Mac Ewan College, Simon Fraser University, the Aboriginal Arts Program at the Banff Centre and the Centre for Indigenous Theatre. Cherith has previously performed and toured with Raven Spirit Dance. She continues to hone her skills in dance and currently resides in her home community of Mînî Thnî, Alberta. She advocates and promotes the importance of speaking the Stoney language and currently works with Stoney elders and knowledge keepers in developing language resources for a new generation of Stoney language speakers. Cherith blends her knowledge of the Stoney language with her years of dance experience, combing both of her two passions into her choreography.
Dakota Camacho
Dakota Camacho believes in creativity as a record of interaction with the spirit realm. Exploring the overlap between integrity, ancestral/indigenous life ways, true love, and accountability, guiya (they) activate a Matao worldview to make offerings towards inafa’maolek (Balance and harmony with all of life). Weaving through languages of altar-making, movement, film, music, and prayer, guiya (they) generate moments of encounter with self, each other, spirit, and the natural world. Yo’ña (their) work enacts spaces where multiple worlds, ways of knowing, being, and doing speak to each other to unearth embodied pathways towards collective liberation.
@InfiniteDakota
www.dakotacamacho.com
Sandra Lamouche
Sandra Lamouche is a Nehiyaw Iskwew (Cree Woman) from the Bigstone Cree Nation in Northern Alberta and married into the Piikani Nation in Southern Alberta and mother to two boys with braids. She completed her B.A. in Native American Studies from the University of Lethbridge in 2007. In 2021 she successfully defended her M.A. Thesis at Trent University, titled “Nitona Miyo Pimadisiwin (Seeking a Good Life) Through Indigenous Dance” which examines Indigenous Dance as a Social Determinant of Health and Well Being. Sandra is a multidisciplinary creator and storyteller, she is a Champion Hoop Dancer, award winning Indigenous Educational Leader, two-time TEDx Speaker, artist, and writer.
She has over fifteen years of experience in ten international styles of dance including ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern, contemporary, hip hop and powwow styles, and the hoop dance. SHe has performed, collaborated with, studied and trained with Indigenous Dance Companies such as “Daystar Modern Dance Creations”, Rosalie Jones, founder of Modern Native Dance (Rochester, NY); “Dancing Earth: Contemporary Indigenous Dance Creations” Rulan Tangen, founder and artistic director (Santa Fe, NM); “Compaigni V’ni Dansi” Metis and Contemporary dance with Yvonne Chartrand (Vancouver, BC); “Kahawi Dance Theatre” Santee Smith (Toronto, ON); Jack Gray of “Atamira Dance Company” (New Zealand), O. Dela Arts (Ontario), Raven Spirit Dance (Vancouver).
Sasha Rochon
Sasha Rochon reins from the north west coast where she found her soul in dance. Her exposure to dance gave her the space to share without words all the stories her body had. Dance has served as a constant, a way to come home into the body and release. After taking a break to raise a family, Sasha finds herself back dancing and sharing her love for movement and story. She used to list credentials here, but no longer cares. It’s about the art after all.
Sophie Dow
Winnipeg-born Sophie Dow is a multidisciplinary creative, inspired by dance, music, collaboration and Métis-Assiniboine + settler roots. An avid adventurer, Sophie has a passion for busking, yoga and traveling on top of holding a degree in Dance Performance and Choreography. With a unique list of credits deeply impacting personal process and vocabulary, Sophie’s had the great fortune of working with some of Turtle Island’s wonderful dance innovators, including Chimera Dance Theatre and Kaeja d’Dance.
As a creator, Sophie is consistently nurturing and evolving an inventive voice. Life-changing opportunities to choreograph with diverse groups of movers continue exploding boundaries of Sophie’s ongoing compositions and curiosities. Presenters of these ideas include: Dance West, DanceWorks TO, The Paprika Festival, Workman Arts, O.Dela Arts, WindDown Dances, NightShift (Citadel&Co), Buddies in Badtimes Theatre, Festival of Recorded Movement (FORM), Prince Edward County’s Flight Festival and grand varieties of festivals, stages and outdoor sites.
In other endeavors, Sophie writes & performs music with The Honeycomb Flyers and is a licensed practitioner of Traditional Thai Massage.