Come and Dance (Nov 16-19): An Aboriginal Dance Festival

Come and Dance: an Aboriginal Dance Festival

As you may have seen on my blog, I’m always proud to a mainstream blogger who takes the time to promote First Nations issues and projects (I have extensively covered Aboriginal-focused projects such as the Louis Riel Festival, the Talking Stick Festival, the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre up in Whistler, the restoration project of the Musqueam nation in South Vancouver, etc.)

photo credit: psd

Well, as it turns out the Come and Dance Festival will include the 6th Annual Louis Riel celebration!

Andrea Menard
Andrea Menard will be singing her original songs for the first time at the Louis Riel Day Celebrations – part of our Metis Night on November 19. She has toured throughout Canada and internationally and was recently nominated as “Female Entertainer of the Year” at the 2010 Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards. We’re excited to have this wonderful Metis performer from Saskatchewan at our event where she will perform with local Vancouver musicians.

Paula Ross & Monica Trejbal
On November 18th, we will be presenting Paula Ross choreography performed by Monica Trejbal. Paula is Vancouver’s first contemporary dancer of Metis heritage. In addition to work with Pacific Dance Theatre in the early 1960s, she founded her own modern dance company, the Paula Ross Dance Company. Paula will be coming to the festival to talk about her experiences as a Vancouver dance pioneer. Monica Trejbal is a member of the Louis Riel Metis Dancers with contemporary dance training – she will be performing a contemporary dance solo called “Loon at Dawn” which was originally created for Compaigni V’ni Dansi Artistic Director Yvonne Chartrand.

Nyla Carpentier
Also on November 18th, Nyla Carpentier will bring together a group of dancers to perform pow wow dance, hoop dance and smoke dance. Born in Ottawa, from the Tahltan Nation, she is also of French and Scottish decent. She has performed pow wow dance since the age of three. She lives in Vancouver and has completed her artistic training with Full Circle: First Nations Performance Training Ensemble.

When: November 16 – 19
Where
The ScotiaBank Dance Centre (677 Davie Street)and the Aboriginal Friendship Centre located at 1607 East Hastings Street (map).
How
Single day tickets: $20 (non-members: $15 and members/students: $5.)
Three-day pass: $49 non-members; $33 members.
Free membership and tickets available from Vni Dansi.

Who
Compaigni V’ni Dansi