Save the date: 16th annual Coastal Dance Festival celebrates global Indigenous cultural exchange
The annual Coastal Dance Festival — which honours the Indigenous stories, song and dance from the Northwest Coast, Canada and elsewhere — will present a program supporting cultural exchange between here and Aortearoa/New Zealand in celebration of global Indigenous communities.
Aortearoa’s Rosie Te Rauawhea Belvie will debut at this year’s festival and then the Dancers of Damelahamid will travel to the island nation to perform at its biannual Indigenous performance festival, called Kia Mau, in June.
In addition to this debut, the festival will also feature an exclusive excerpt of the work Raven Mother by Dancers of Damelahamid, Paunnakuluit with Inuit drum dancers and throat singers Tooma Laisa and Leanna Wilson, Wagana Aboriginal Dancers from Australia, Alberta Cree multidisciplinary artist Jessica McMann, Squamish’s Sakwus Stolem, Yisya̱’winux̱w (Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw), a group representing many of the 16 tribes of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw people on Northern Vancouver Island and Rainbow Creek Dancers (Haida) celebrating traditional Haida ceremonial dances.
