Native Earth presents a Raven Spirit Dance's GATHERING LIGHT

For this year's Niimi'iwe: Indigenous Dance Showcase, Native Earth proudly presents Raven Spirit Dance's production of GATHERING LIGHT, choreographed by the Artistic Director Michelle Olson for a Toronto Premiere on February 7 to 10, 2019 at Aki Studio.

A celebration of the natural world, GATHERING LIGHT follows the journey of seed to flower, beginning with the stirrings of consciousness to the full embrace of transformation. Delving into the impulses rooted in our bodies that travel through us to find light, this quartet exposes the structures that do not support our own truths, while revealing the ceremonies that support our full bloom. Creating a sense of ritual, loss, and growth, "it is about stepping into our fear, but also into our strength to be fully seen." "It is the idea of gathering light with petals," says Olson.

Michelle Olson is a Vancouver-based choreographer, performer, and movement coach, and a member of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation (Yukon). As the Artistic Director of Raven Spirit Dance, she has produced numerous contemporary Indigenous dance pieces, including the recent Salmon Girl at Young People's Theatre with Quelemia Sparrow.

Olson collaborates with award-winning choreographers Alejandro Ronceria (founding Artistic Director of the first Aboriginal Dance Program at the Banff Centre for the Arts) andSu-Feh Lee (Artistic Director of battery opera) for dramaturgy, and performers Tin Gamboa, Jeanette Kotowich, Hailey McCloskey, and Salome Nieto. The world ofGATHERING LIGHT is further enriched by composer François Houle, lighting designer David DeGrow, and vocalist Michelle St. John (co-founder of Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble).

In an intimate performance in the round, the quartet guides us through the unknown, inviting us into a conceptually rich and complex, transformative experience.

For more details: nativeearth.ca/1819niimiiwe