Coastal Dance Festival Celebrates Future of Indigenous Culture with Spotlight on Youth and Emerging Artists
Program highlights intergenerational exchange and international cultural sharing with visiting artists from New Zealand and expansion to two venues
Vancouver, BC — Dancers of Damelahamid is proud to announce the vibrantly forward-looking 13th annual Coastal Dance Festival, a celebration of Canadian and global Indigenous stories, song, and dance, February 25–March 1, 2020 at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster and at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC (MOA), where school performances will be performed in the Great Hall. Program highlights in 2020 include the festival debut of Tooma Laisa and Leanna Wilson (Inuit), a musician duo from Canada’s Arctic, and youth workshops between the New Zealand-based Tuakana and Teina Leadership Academy Group, and two BC-based groups Ewk Hyaha Hozdii (Wet’suwet’en) and Yisya’winuxw (Kwakwaka’wakw).
“We’re thrilled to expand our 2020 edition to two venues that have become home to the Coastal Dance Festival,” says Margaret Grenier, Festival Executive & Artistic Director. “We found such engaged new audiences at the Anvil Centre last year and it was a joy to present our innovative, ancestral performances within the state-of-the-art space. We’re also honoured to perform for student audiences once again in MOA’s Great Hall, which will bring together the energy of local and international youth groups in a setting full of iconic Indigenous artworks. Looking to the future of Indigenous culture and the transference of knowledge forward through the generations, I can think of no better way to bridge communities in the Northwest Coast and beyond than through our 2020 program.”
This year’s festival welcomes 14 Indigenous performance groups from throughout British Columbia, Alaska, the Yukon, and Nunavut as well as international guest artists from as far away as New Zealand. New and not-to-be-missed this year: the emerging talents of Tooma Laisa and Leanna Wilson , who revitalize Inuit drum songs through pairings with contemporary dance; and the Vancouver debut of New Zealand’s Tuakana and Teina Leadership Academy Group (TNT), a talented company of artists aged 5 to 18, who focus on cultivating leadership abilities through shared learnings. TNT will participate in workshops alongside Ewk Hyaha Hozdii and Yisya’winuxw from Alert Bay, BC.
Other highlights include the return of several festival favourites: Chinook Song Catchers, with 10 cultural presenters performing a Squamish Welcome Song, Killer Whale Song, Owl Song, and more; the Squamish-based dance company Spakwus Slolem, with works representative of their canoe culture; performances by Git Hayetsk and Git Hoan, groups with long-standing connections to Dancers of Damelahamid; the multigenerational Coast Salish Xwelmexw Shxwexwo:s (Salish Thunderbird); and the Haida company Rainbow Creek Dancers, featuring renowned artists Robert Davidson and Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson. The mother and daughter team of Chesha7 iy lha mens will return alongside the award-winning Inland Tlingit Dakhká Khwáan Dancers and the Nisga’a Kwhlii Gibaykw.
Dancers of Damelahamid proudly acknowledge the festival takes place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Qayqayt and Musqueam peoples.
The 2020 Coastal Dance Festival is comprised of three performances, located at two venues:
SCHOOL GROUP PERFORMANCES | Weekday sessions introducing K-12 students to the rich history and traditions of First Nations dance, performance, and storytelling
Museum of Anthropology at UBC
Tuesday, February 25 at 10:30am and 1pm
Chesha7 iy lha mens – Squamish
Tuakana and Teina Leadership Academy Group – Māori
Dancers of Damelahamid
Anvil Centre
Wednesday, February 26 at 10:30am
Ewk Hyaha Hozdii – Wet’suwet’en
Tuakana and Teina Leadership Academy Group – Māori
Dancers of Damelahamid
Thursday, February 27 at 1pm
Ewk Hyaha Hozdii – Wet’suwet’en
Tuakana and Teina Leadership Academy Group – Māori
Dancers of Damelahamid
SIGNATURE EVENING PERFORMANCE | Ticketed gala event
Anvil Centre
Friday, February 28 at 7:30pm, doors open at 7pm
Spakwus Slolem – Squamish
Dancers of Damelahamid
Tooma Laisa and Leanna Wilson – Inuit
Rainbow Creek – Haida
FESTIVAL STAGE PERFORMANCES | Presentations from visiting performers offered by donation
Anvil Centre
Saturday, February 29
Program 1 at 1pm:
Xwelmexw Shxwexwo:s – Coast Salish
Dakhká Khwáan – Inland Tlingit
Program 2 at 2pm:
Yisya’winuxw – Kwakwaka’wakw
Tuakana and Teina Leadership Academy Group – Māori
Program 3 at 3pm:
Git Hoan – Tsimshian
Sunday, March 1
Program 1 at 1pm:
Kwhlii Gibaykw – Nisga’a
Dakhká Khwáan – Inland Tlingit
Program 2 at 2pm:
Tooma Laisa and Leanna Wilson – Inuit
Git Hayetsk – Nisga’a/Tsimshian
Program 3 at 3pm:
Chinook Song Catchers – Squamish
Tickets from $25. For more information visit: damelahamid.ca.
About Dancers of Damelahamid (damelahamid.ca)
Dancers of Damelahamid is an Indigenous dance company from the Northwest Coast of British Columbia. The company is founded upon over five decades of extensive work of song restoration. It is the current directive of the Dancers of Damelahamid to redefine their contemporary practice and to honour this history in order that the dances may continue to be tangible and accessible for the next generation. The company has produced the Coastal Dance Festival annually since 2008, presenting Indigenous dance artists from the BC coast, with guest national and international artists. The festival’s predecessor, Haw Yaw Hawni Naw, was produced in Prince Rupert, BC, from 1966–1986.
| LISTING INFORMATION | Dancers of Damelahamid presents 13th Annual Coastal Dance Festival |
| Dates: | February 25–March 1, 2020 |
| Ticket Prices: School Group Performances | MOA February 25, 10:30am + 1pm | Pre-booking required, call 604-521-5050 |
| School Group Performances | Anvil Centre February 26, 10:30am February 27, 1pm | |
| Signature Evening Performance | Anvil Centre February 28, 7:30pm | $30 for Adults; $25 for Students/Seniors |
| Festival Stage Performances | Anvil Centre February 29, 1–4pm March 1, 1–4pm | By donation |
| Address: | Anvil Centre 777 Columbia Street New Westminster, BC V3M 1B6Museum of Anthropology University of British Columbia 6393 NW Marine Drive Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2 |
| Website: | damelahamid.ca |