New film pays tribute to the originality and creativity behind acclaimed Toronto-based troupe, renowned for bridging Indigenous origin stories with contemporary performance in Canada and worldwide.  

OTTAWA, CANADA – The National Arts Centre’s Dance Department, in partnership with Digidance, invites audiences to experience the imaginative contemporary Indigenous performance More than Dance, We are a Movement by the leading contemporary Indigenous performance company, Red Sky Performance – streaming online from April 14-20, 2021. 

More than Dance, We are a Movement, the last broadcast of this season of Digidance, celebrates Red Sky Performance’s 20-year anniversary and showcases excerpts from the company’s award-winning works Trace and Miigis, as well as interviews with collaborators who have participated in every step of this remarkable journey.

This film captures the creative drive of Red Sky Performance founder and Artistic Director Sandra Laronde, who is originally from the Teme-Augama-Anishinaabe (People of the Deep Water) in Temagami, northern Ontario, and who leads the exceptional artistic vision that propelled her company to international prominence and critical acclaim.

“NAC Dance is thrilled to have an opportunity to share the powerful work of Red Sky Performance, a driving force in transformative contemporary Indigenous arts in Canada and around the world. More than Dance, We are a Movement is a fitting tribute to the company’s 20-year legacy of pairing Indigenous stories of creation, ancestral origins and spiritual beliefs with breathtaking artistry and sheer physicality. A stunning performance fit to conclude our first Digidance series,” said Cathy Levy, Executive Producer of NAC Dance and Digidance partner.

ABOUT TRACE

Trace is a highly kinetic contemporary dance work inspired by Indigenous (Anishinaabe) sky and star stories. Our ancestral origins stretch across the Milky Way to the atoms burning inside of us in the here and now. Trace offers a glimpse into our origin as the star people as well as our future evolution.

ABOUT MIIGIS 

Miigis represents “the perfect breath” of life, a symbol that informs our origin story of travel from the Atlantic Coast to the Great Lakes. Fusing contemporary Indigenous dance with athleticism in an extraordinary form, Miigis explores the catalysts for movement, ancestral forces and living memory, and the cycle of life.

Tickets are on sale on the NAC website at $16.14 for individuals or $26.14 per family (+ applicable taxes).

ABOUT DIGIDANCE 
 
Digidance is a new joint initiative of Canadian dance presenters to deliver exceptional, full length Canadian and international dance content online to Canadians across the country. Created in July 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Digidance consists of the following leading dance presenters: the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), DanceHouse (Vancouver), Harbourfront Centre (Toronto), and Danse Danse (Montreal). 

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE 
 
The National Arts Centre is Canada’s bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for the performing arts. As part of its Strategic Plan, the NAC’s vision is to lead and support the renewal of the performing arts sector. The NAC presents, creates, produces, and co-produces performing arts programming in various streams — the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety — and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada. The NAC is located in the National Capital Region on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe. 

 

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FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

Andrea Ruttan 

Communications Strategist 

1-343-998-4244