UBC's Museum of Anthropology is partnering with the 2016 Coastal First Nations Dance Festival this week. The festival, running March 1-6, will bring indigenous stories to life in the museum's Great Hall. It will feature traditional Aboriginal dance styles, storytelling and educational workshops with both matinee and evening shows running throughout the week.
The festival is being showcased in collaboration with Dancers of Damelahamid, an Aboriginal dance group hailing from the northwest coast of British Columbia. Featured alongside the company dancers are front-runners Tesha Emarthle and James Jones. Toronto-born Emarthle will be the festival's first ever smoke dancer (an Aboriginal war dance). Jones, an artist made famous by his run as a finalist on So You Think You Can Dance Canada, personalizes traditional dances with his background as a breakdancer.
According to artistic director and festival founder Margaret Grenier, it's all about balancing the modern and the traditional.
“We don't limit ourselves in dance practices,” said Grenier of featuring contemporary styles in the festival as well as the time-honoured ones. While the performances are mainly rooted in tradition, artists are encouraged to find their own twist. Jones' performance, which combines hoop dancing and hip hop, plants two feet so firmly in both worlds that it works to “resonate with a lot of young people” because of its modern interpretation.
Resonating with BC youth is, after all, a huge aim for the festival as a whole. The Coastal First Nations Dance Festival was founded in hopes of mirroring a similar festival that Grenier's parents had coordinated in her hometown of Prince Rupert throughout her childhood. The festival “was very influential to [Grenier] as a young Aboriginal” who felt that Vancouver was lacking a similar experience. It is her hope that festivals like this will continue to inspire modern youth for many years to come.
In addition to inspiring and entertaining, the festival is also an opportunity to educate for Grenier. “There is still a significant gap in understanding of the vast diversity of cultures present in British Columbia and Canada,” she said. “Art is a great way to impact negativity, to share openly and to bridge those gaps of understanding.”
Throughout the week, the festival will feature both weekday and evening performances, as well as interactive workshops. “Our weekday performances and workshops are focused on youth and the passing forward of practices,” said Grenier.
“It's an opportunity to work with professional artists and an opportunity that most won't get very often,” Grenier observed. Regardless of the world-class guidance, the classes will be suited toward students of any skill level.
“It's not just a showcasing of art, it's a gathering of community,” said Grenier of what she enjoys most about the festival. “There is so much strength and that's the beauty of the festival that I look forward to every year.”