A film by Jeanette Kotowich in care and collaboration with Chloe Ziner, Jessica Gabriel, Roxanne Nesbitt, and Kathleen Nisbet
The creative process of this work took many iterations in the embodied journey to uncover and reveal Nimîhtowin Askîhk. What has taken shape is our dynamic and complicated, yet beautiful relationship to dancing the Land – Nimîhtowin Askîhk. As we sensitized ourselves to each landscape, it became clear that even in our heartfelt attempts to inhabit our surroundings without imposition, the Land itself has been imposed upon in irreversible & unavoidable ways. And so… we followed our intuition, senses and Spirit in the extraction and shaping of this work. In collaboration with the Land we attuned our ideas to site, weather, sun, cloud, sky, tide and time of day. This process called for our whole selves to be in observation, integration, reflection, and creative activation. Kinanāskomitinān.
“We are born into a world that has both beauty and brokenness. How do we learn to dance with those contradictions and find healing for ourselves and the land?”
—Chloe Ziner
Credits
Concept/Direction/Design/Performance: Jeanette Kotowich
Collaborator/Cinematography/Drone/Editing: Chloe Ziner
Collaborator/Cinematography/Projection Design: Jessica Gabriel
Original Sound Design: Roxanne Nesbitt (with viola by John Kastelic) Song for Today written and sung by Jeanette Kotowich, produced by Kathleen Nisbet
Filmed on the Ancestral and unceded Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Sel̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) territories
Originally from Treaty 4 territory Saskatchewan, Jeanette Kotowich creates work that reflects Nêhiyaw/Métis cosmology within Indigenous performance, Indigenous futurism and contemporary dance. Her creations have been presented at theatres and festivals across so-called Canada, including Kwê at Matriarchs Uprising and The Dance Centre’s Dance In Vancouver. Jeanette’s been creating a series of short experimental dance films during the pandemic. She has been an artist-in-residence at Raven Spirit Dance, NAC Indigenous Theatre, Shadbolt Centre and The Dance Centre. In the summer of 2020, she conducted land-based research in her home province of Saskatchewan, fusing interdisciplinary collaboration, decolonial practices and embodied research towards the creation of Kisiskâciwan.
Originaire du territoire du Traité no 4 en Saskatchewan, Jeanette Kotowich crée des œuvres qui transposent la cosmologie métisse-nêhiyaw dans les arts vivants autochtones, le futurisme autochtone et la danse contemporaine. Ses créations ont été présentées un peu partout dans ce pays qu’on appelle le Canada, notamment Kwê au festival Matriarchs Uprising et au Dance Centre de Vancouver. Pendant la pandémie, elle s’est lancée dans la réalisation de courts métrages expérimentaux de danse. Elle a participé à plusieurs résidences artistiques au Raven Spirit Dance, Théâtre autochtone du CNA, Shadbolt Centre et Dance Centre. Au cours de l’été 2020, elle mène des travaux de recherche dans sa province natale, la Saskatchewan, misant sur les collaborations interdisciplinaires, les pratiques de travail décoloniales et la recherche incarnée. De ce travail est né le spectacle Kisiskâciwan.
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