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Dancers of Damelahamid
Artist Snapshots 2 – 03.28.2023
8am PT / 11am ET / 5pm GMT
Dancers of Damelahamid is an Indigenous dance company founded upon over five decades of extensive work of song and dance revitalization. For countless generations Indigenous dance played an integral part in defining art and culture. In response to the lifting of the Potlatch Ban (1884 – 1951), was the resurfacing of dance and the awakening of an art form that was outlawed for almost 70 years. The Dancers of Damelahamid emerged in the 1960s out of an urgency to ensure that these artistic practices were not lost. The company’s artistic approaches have contributed to its abilities to bridge creative practices and to work with innovative mediums, while maintaining commitment to the integrity of their artistic legacy.
Artist Snapshot:
Raven Mother
Raven Mother is a multimedia dance work in honour of the late Elder Margaret Harris (1931 – 2020)—illustrating the vast impact she had on the revitalization of song and dance along the Northwest Coast, and the resiliency of Indigenous cultural practices despite colonial efforts to erase them. This work illuminates the significance of this resurgence, and the essential role of our mothers in holding cultural knowledge, and the force and influence of this awakening.