Company Resume
Performance History of Raven Spirit Dance
Gathering Light – (Choreographed by Michelle Olson) is a contemporary dance work for four dancers. “From seed to flower, from girl to woman, from structures that do not support our own truths to ceremonies that support our full bloom, Gathering Light explores the impulses rooted in our bodies and that travel through us to find the light.”
Past Presentations Dates
Weesageechak Begins to Dance – Native Earth, Toronto ON, Jan 27, 2010
Noon Dance Series – the Dance Centre, Vancouver BC, Sept. 24, 2009
Talking Stick Festival, Vancouver BC, Feb 11, 2009
Ta’wan – a site specific piece created in collaboration with Robert Baker of S’pak’wus Slúlum (Eagle Songs Dancers) exploring the echoes of tradition in an urban landscape. Ta’wan (Squamish for Illuminate) combines contemporary and traditional West Coast First Nations Dance.
Past Presentations Dates
Coal Harbour Community Centre, Vancouver BC, April 26 & 27, 2008
Luk T’äga Näche – (Salmon Girl Dreaming – Choreographed by Michelle Olson) explores the emotional landscape and dreams of a young woman trying to remember what has been lost. Through contemporary dance and puppetry, Luk T’äga Näche delves into the questions of identity and cultural inheritance.
Past Presentations Dates
Equinox Arts Festival, Whitehorse YK, September, 2006
Dänojà Cultural Centre, Dawson City YK, Summer 2006, 2007
International Dance Festival, Vancouver BC, March 22, 2007
Canada Winter Games, Whitehorse YK, February 28, 2007
Renfrew Community Moon Festival, Vancouver BC, October 7, 2006
Performance & Creation Conference, Whitehorse YK, September 29, 2006
Evening in Paris – (Choreographed by Michelle Olson, directed by Muriel Miguel) Inspired by the remarkable life of Molly Spotted Elk and the lives of our grandmothers, this dance/theatre piece uncovers and honors the complexity of Aboriginal women’s experience.
Past Presentations Dates
Weesageechak Begins to Dance – Native Earth, Toronto ON, October 11, 2007
Firehall Arts Centre, Vancouver BC, September 26-29, 2007
Galliano Community Centre (Lecture Demonstration), Galliano Island, October 14, 2006
Fathom labs workshop, Galliano Island, October 6-14, 2006
Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space, Trent University, March, 1-4, 2006
Fathom labs workshop, Galliano Island, November 2005
Red Rhythms Conference, Riverside California, May 2004
AlterNative Currents – Native Earth, Toronto ON, February 2004
Development Workshop, Vancouver BC, February 2004
Songs of Shär Cho – (Choreographed by Michelle Olson and Kimberly Tuson) is a multi-media contemporary dance performance inspired by the heart and history of the traditions and the culture of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people of Dawson City, Yukon.
Past Presentations Dates
What the Land Remembers – Yukon First Nations (2010 Cultural Olympiad), February 2010
Candance Indigenous Grasslands Tour – Regina, Montreal, Vancouver, March 2008
Yukon Government Conference, Whitehorse YK, September 2005
Moosehide Gathering, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation, August 2005
Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre, Dawson City YK, Summer 2000,2003 & 2005
Dance Allsorts – the Roundhouse, Vancouver BC, April 2004
Dance in Vancouver – the Dance Centre, Vancouver BC, February 2000
Raven Restores the Sun to the Sky (Choreographed by Michelle Olson) is a dance piece for young audiences, combining contemporary dance, traditional singing and dancing to tell the Yukon First Nations story of how raven saves the sun.
Past Presentations Dates
BC and Yukon School Tour, March – May 2003
Yukon Storytelling Festival, Whitehorse YK, May 2002
Dancing on the Edge Festival, Vancouver BC, July 2001
Investigations into Indigenous creative process in the creation of contemporary dance.
Artists involved included: Byron Chief Moon, Gaetan Gingras, Floyd Favel Starr, Geraldine Manossa, Cherith Mark, Michelle Olson, Lisa C. Ravensbergen, Cara Siu (dancer)
In partnership with the Vancouver Dance Centre, Raven Spirit initiated the Investigations Indigenous workshop. Selected Indigenous choreographers and creative practitioners, emerging and established, gathered to investigate indigenous artistic practices and how these practices can inform the creation of contemporary dance. Workshop Dates, December 4-11, 2006 Vancouver Dance Centre
Past Presentations Dates
Talking Stick Festival, Vancouver BC, February 7, 2007
The Place Between / Cheyikew Performance – (Created by Lisa Ravensbergen and Michelle Olson) is a interdisciplinary work that involves collaboration with Aboriginal performers, contemporary theatrical and dance technique and explores women’s stories rooted in the mythical traditions of Aboriginal cultures. Raven Spirit Dance Society supported the research and development phases of this work.
Past Workshops & Presentations
Native Earth – Toronto ON, March-April 2007
Firehall Arts Centre – Vancouver BC, June 2004
Weesageechak Begins to Dance- Native Earth, Toronto ON, Sept – Oct 2003
Fireworks Festival – Firehall Arts Centre, Vancouver BC, Feb 2003
The Banff Centre, Banff AB, Nov-Dec 2002
The Dream – choreographed by Butoh Master Yukio Waguri,
In September 2002, Raven Spirit brought over Butoh Master Yukio Waguri to begin the development of a dance work based in butoh performance technique inspired by First Nations themes. The result was The Dream, choreography for eight dancers that explored the realms of medicine and dreams, and revealed the whimsical, ethereal and darkness of the human spirit. Waguri gifted the choreography to the company.
Work in progress showing – EDAM, Vancouver, Sept. 2002
