Samantha Sutherland is a contemporary dance artist, choreographer, and teacher.  Her ancestry is Ktunaxa and Scottish.  She grew up on Coast Salish territory and graduated from the Arts Umbrella Dance Diploma Program in 2018.  

Samantha began choreographing dance solo works in 2021 and has presented in festivals and with presenters across Turtle Island.  Some include the Matriarchs Uprising Festival, Sharing the Stage with The National Ballet of Canada, Dance Made in Canada, SummerWorks, Tangente, and Weesageechak Begins to Dance. 

She has performed in dance works by Raven Spirit Dance, Santee Smith, Olivia C. Davies, Alejandro Ronceria, and Jera Wolfe.  She is currently an Artistic Associate with O.Dela Arts.

Raven is an emerging choreographer in Indigenous contemporary dance based on her Gixtsan and Swampy Cree traditions and masked dance training. We are thrilled to be able to provide Raven with creative mentorship with our Artistic team and professional development training during her residency with us over the upcoming year.

“For this residency I am excited to continue research development for my upcoming dance production and EP Wolverine; a piece that explores relationship dynamics, conflict resolution and polyamory in an interpretation of a Gitxsan oral history of Wolverine or Wee Tsim Noosik, through expressions queer supernatural camp and contemporary Indigenous dance, attire, digital art, and Indigpop.” – Raven Grenier

In addition to her dance practice she makes formline design prints, upcycled attire, leather painted earrings, and jewlery, available through her Instagram @ravengrenier and @ravens_creations, at MOA gift shop and Lattimer gallery. Raven is inspired by mentors David R Boxley and David A Boxley, and creates art that represents a modern Indigiqueer expression of ancient codified oral histories in her works.

Jeanette is a multi-disciplinary iskwêw, independent dance artist, creator, choreographer and professional Auntie of Nêhiyaw Métis and mixed settler ancestry. Originally from Treaty 4 territory Saskatchewan, she creates work that reflects Nêhiyaw/Métis cosmology within the context of contemporary dance, Indigenous performance, and Indigenous futurism. Fusing interdisciplinary collaboration, de-colonial practices and embodied research methodologies; Jeanette’s work references protocol, ritual, relationship to the natural/spirit world and Ancestral knowledge. Her practice is intergenerational and vocational; it’s a living and lived experience. Jeanette resides as a guest on the Ancestral and unceded Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) əl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ/ (Tsleil-Waututh) and Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) territories, colonially known as Vancouver