T Red Sky Performance founder Sandra Laronde (Teme-Augama Anishinaabe) RED BY MILLIE KNAPP 8 AMERICAN INDIAN SUMMER 2019


SKY’S COSMIC DANCE


A CANADIAN DANCE COMPANY IS EXPANDING VIEWS OF THE INDIGENOUS WORLD—IF NOT ITS UNIVERSE


he next clear night, look up and gaze at the stars. What do you see? A swarm of random points of light? Or can you see the sky as the Anishi-


naabe do: a universe of stories. The night sky “holds the cultural psyche


and worldview of a people,” says Sandra Lar- onde. “It contains our stories. We are imprinted up there.” Laronde (Teme-Augama Anishi- naabe) is the founder of Red Sky Performance, a Toronto-based company that is bridging the Western and Indigenous worlds through con- temporary dance. Its new show, “Trace,” will debut at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Massachusetts, from August 7 to 11, a venue at the forefront of the U.S. dance world. Red Sky’s appearance at Jacob’s Pillow, a


renowned dance center, in a sense brings con- temporary dance full circle to its Indigenous roots. Jacob’s Pillow founder Ted Shawn, one of the seminal figures of contemporary dance, drew inspiration from traditional Native dance. Since 1933, “the Pillow” has been “deeply inter- sected with Indigenous peoples and traditions,” says its director Pamela Tatge. Tatge wanted to emphasize Pillow’s Indig-


enous connections, both in its programming history and its location, so during the run of “Trace,” it is offering a weeklong program, “The Land on Which We Dance,” which will honor Indigenous peoples of the region. Curated by Laronde and Hawaiian dancer Christopher Morgan, the event will feature talks, a free performance by Morgan and other Indigenous dancers and a procession. After the show will be stories, songs and a bonfire. “I look forward to this celebration acknowledging the first inhabitants of our land,” says Tatge.


RED SKY’S GLOBAL REACH


A director, producer and choreographer, Laronde has devoted nearly two decades to creating and producing original, contem- porary Indigenous performances as well as developing the next generation of Indigenous artists. She has drawn inspiration from Na- tive peoples spanning the globe, from Mexico to Mongolia as well as from her own Anishi- naabe community. Laronde recounted her journey to promot-


ing Indigenous dance during an advance visit to the rustic campus of Jacob’s Pillow on a hilltop in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts. She was there to connect with the tribes that call this place their homeland. Laronde’s own roots lie with the Teme-


Augama Anishinaabe (People of the Deep Water) in Temagami in northern Ontario.


PHOTO BY PAULA WILSON/COURTESY OF RED SKY PERFORMANCE


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