Raven Mother
January 24, 2025 • 7:30 pm
McPherson Playhouse
Running time: 75 minutes (no intermission)
The McPherson Playhouse is located on the traditional lands of the Lekwungen peoples, also known as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. We extend our appreciation for the opportunity to live, create, and perform on this territory.
Please, no video or audio recording of any kind. No photographs.
Created and Produced by Dancers of Damelahamid
Artistic Director and Choreographer: Margaret Grenier
Set Designer and Artwork: Andrew Grenier
Regalia Designer and Creator: Rebecca Baker-Grenier
Song Composer and Vocalist: Raven Grenier
Collaborating Composer: Ted Hamilton
Lighting Designer: Jeff Harrison
Projection Designer: Andy Moro
Collaborating Director: Charles Koroneho
Northwest Coast Artists: David A. Boxley, David R. Boxley, Jim Charlie, Raven Grenier, Kandi McGilton, Dylan Sanidad Composers of the song “Strong Woman”: Derrick Keeswood, Verrona Keeswood, Lawrence Trottier
Elders: Betsy Lomax, Lawrence Trottier
Production/Stage Manager: Andy Grenier
Technical Director: Jeff Harrison
Wardrobe Assistant: Stevie Hale-Jones
Collaborating Producer and Agent: Eponymous
World Premiere: October 9, 2024
The Cultch Theatre, Vancouver, Canada
Raven Mother is a co-production of the CanDance Network Creation Fund, Dance Victoria, DanceWorks, National Arts Centre and Danse Danse.
Raven Mother is Dancers of Damelahamid’s newly choreographed dance work in honour of late Elder Margaret Harris (1931–2020). Raven Mother illustrates the vast impact
Elder Harris had on the revitalization of Indigenous dance along the Northwest Coast, and the integral role of women in holding cultural knowledge. It celebrates our mothers who created the stronghold of these artforms and influenced the next generation of women. Raven Mother illuminates the profound leadership of mothers, their essential contribution in this resurgence, and the force and transformation of this awakening.
Raven Mother is Dancers of Damelahamid’s most ambitious production and is the culmination of generations of artistic and cultural work. Movement, song, regalia, sculpture, and design are interwoven with the embodied narrative. The Raven crest, manifested in multiple forms, embodies transformation, the strengthening of culture, the unveiling of a new spirit, and breathing life into a promise made to the children of generations to come.
Raven Mother speaks to our current realities, drawing from a rich lineage of teachings and insights. Innovation is conditional upon revealing the truths of today to pursue cultural endurance and intergenerational sustenance. Raven Mother is a tangible remembrance of a woman’s spirit, marking the shift between generations that has sparked a new role for our daughters as the force to hold their grandmother’s vision.
Late Elder Margaret Harris was a respected Cree Elder from Northern Manitoba. She spent a large part of her life on the Northwest Coast of BC with her husband Chief Kenneth Harris (1928–2010) and trained under Gitxsan Matriarch Irene Harris (1888–1972). She dedicated her life to the revitalization and teaching of Indigenous cultural practices, including song, dance, stories, and regalia making. Together, Elder Margaret Harris and Chief Harris founded Dancers of Damelahamid in 1967.
Dancers of Damelahamid started in the 1960s under the leadership of our parents Chief Kenneth Harris and Margaret Harris. At that time the focus was on dance revitalization, following the lifting of the Potlatch Ban (1884–1951). I was born into this dance lineage and my role as a leader for the company has grown over the past 20 years. In 2010, our company began taking contemporary approaches to create newly choreographed works based on our ancestral form. Through this we are establishing our cultural dance form and addressing decolonization within dance.
Raven Mother is a very personal piece for our family, and we have put all our efforts into realizing this work. It recognizes
the legacy left by the lifetime of work that my mother Margaret Harris gave to her family and the dance community, as a Cree woman who married into a Gitxsan dance lineage. It is a work that acknowledges the vital role that women have held in this intergenerational dance practice, as visionaries, as caregivers, and as catalysts that have ensured the survival of the practice itself. It is a piece that speaks to both the beauty and the hardships of this journey as women, the love we have for our children, and the hope they bring us.
Read the company’s full biographies by scanning this QR code with your smartphone’s camera.
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. The lifting of the Potlatch Ban (1884–1951) saw the resurfacing of dance and the awakening of an art form that was outlawed for almost 70 years. Dancers of Damelahamid emerged in the 1960s out of an urgency to ensure that these artistic practices were not lost.
Dancers of Damelahamid has since established itself as a leading professional Indigenous dance company. The company’s artistic approaches have contributed to its abilities to bridge creative practices and to work with innovative media,
while maintaining commitment to the integrity of its artistic legacy. It is through continual and diligent practice that this dance form endures as non-static and relevant to current innovation, influence, and insights.
Dancers of Damelahamid has produced several theatrebased productions and choreographed dance works. The company has produced the annual Coastal Dance Festival since 2008, presenting Indigenous dance from the Northwest Coast as well as hosting guest national and international Indigenous artists. Dance Victoria last presented Dancers of Damelahamid in 2018, when the company performed the innovative multimedia dance piece Flicker at the McPherson Playhouse.
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Maureen Vincent maureenvincent68@gmail.com 250-656-0131
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Terry Moore tlmoore@shaw.ca 250-477-7291
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Board of Directors
President: Colette Baty
Vice President: Brendan Ralfs
Treasurer: Sarah Millard
Secretary: Marlon Murr
Directors: Kemi Craig, Linley Faulkner, Joost Pelt, Philip Pierce, Carrie Smart, Emily Zeng
Dance Victoria is supported by:
Staff
Executive Director: Gillian Jones
General Manager: Dayna Szyndrowski
Development & Operations Manager: Shireen McNeilage
Marketing Manager: Anne-Sophie Cournoyer
Production Manager: Holly Vivian
Community Engagement Manager: Larissa Sharma
Artist Programs & Studio Manager: Kiera Shaw
Graphic Design: Rayola Creative
Advertising Sales: Bonnie Light Advertising
Dance Victoria Studios 111 – 2750 Quadra St. Victoria, BC V8T 4E8 P: 250-595-1829 F: 250-590-7209
info@dancevictoria.com
Dance Victoria wishes to thank its many donors and volunteers.
Dance Victoria’s Chrystal Dance Fund and Endowment Fund are held at Victoria Foundation. Dance Victoria is a proud member of the CanDance Network and the BC Alliance of Arts & Culture.
Additional support for Dance Victoria’s presentation of Dancers of Damelahamid and related outreach activities is generously provided by TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment.