When I do a show, it’s all about connections with others, with the people on stage, with the people in the audience, and beyond. I use whatever vocabulary, so to say, that seems to be the strongest way to bring that forward.

I’ve studied both in theatre and dance. I always like to learn, and that gives me more vocabulary to draw from. In Indigenous culture, we tend not to have the strong lines that separate dance, theatre, music, visual arts. Part of the cultural teachings that I received, maybe comes out in that way. So, I tend not to separate it in my head when I’m creating it. I dance for my community. I dance for prayer. I dance for ancestors. For future generations. This is more than just a show.

“I dance for my community. I dance for prayer. I dance for ancestors. For future generations.”

I find that there’s a lot of really important and smart teachings in our culture that everyone could benefit from if we could live them. So that’s part of my reason I do these things. I try to follow a lot of our cultural teachings, if you want to say, not just because I’m an Indigenous person, but because they make sense to me. And I can see how it can really help the world. We’ve kind of gotten off the rails a bit on how we’re living, in many ways. So, if I can somehow bring this to other people—through training them, through teaching our dances and songs—then I think that’s going to help the world to be a better place. And I also was told by an Elder: You don’t want your knowledge to die with you. So, to me, it’s important to try to, in an appropriate way, pass this knowledge that I learned in my lifetime so far.

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