Interview: Margaret Grenier on the 15th Anniversary of the Coastal Dance Festival!

From April 20-22, 2022, the 15th annual Coastal Dance Festival will take place at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster, BC. The festival fosters the exchange and appreciation of Indigenous song, dance, and stories by inviting Indigenous artists from both Canada and around the world to share and perform. Festival Executive and Artistic Director Margaret Grenier sat down with BroadwayWorld to chat about the festival this year. Read the full interview below!

As both the Festival Executive and Artistic Director for the Coastal Dance Festival, what was the process like of putting everything together? What was the most challenging part of it all?

Margaret: The Coastal Dance Festival comes together over a longer period of time because the goal of it is to connect our festival artists to a broader community of Indigenous dance. Some of our artists have family and community connections to the Festival that are intergenerational. The most challenging part is that there is such a breadth and diversity of Indigenous dance resulting in us constantly working to make new connections to grow the festival community.

This year, the festival will link Canada and the Nordic region, featuring Indigenous Sámi artists from Norway and Sweden. Have you collaborated with these artists before and what are you most looking forward to seeing from these groups?

Margaret: The Sámi artists who will be at the Coastal Dance Festival in 2022 are new the festival; however, it has taken several years to make these connections, especially with the impact of the pandemic. We were hoping to host the Sámi artists in 2021. The rich history of song and story of the Sámi is inspiring, as well as the immense efforts to revitalize Sámi arts and language. The Sámi artists will present both traditional and contemporary artistic expressions.

The Coastal Dance Festival highlights the strength of Indigenous culture by providing a place to celebrate and appreciate their arts and language. How did the festival first start and how does this year compare to the previous?

Margaret: The predecessor to the Coastal Dance Festival started in the 1960s in Prince Rupert, BC under the leadership of my parents Ken and Margaret Harris. It was a remarkable time of resurgence of dance on the Northwest Coast. It was because of the work of their generation that we were able to grow up with song and dance. Fifteen years ago, with the support of the Cultural Olympiad, we were able to revive the Coastal Dance Festival in the Vancouver area. Since then, the festival has grown to celebrate emerging and established Indigenous artists serving an international community of dance.

The festival will have works from a variety of artists from near and far. 15 Indigenous groups from BC will be performing. How did you find all of these groups to perform?

Margaret: The Coastal Dance Festival has established relationships with Indigenous dance artists for over 15 years with artists throughout the Northwest Coast and outside of our territories as well. The process of bringing the festival together is about deepening these connections and growing the circle of artists so that we can strengthen our practices. Some of the artists in 2022 are new to the festival and some have been an integral part of it over the years.

A very exciting part of this event is the implementation of Artist Sharing. What can people expect when they attend this part of the festival?

Margaret: The Artist Sharing series will create a space for these Indigenous artists to share their stories and engage in a deeper conversation about the histories of their arts and their communities. There will be a conversation on contemporary dance practice for our Sámi artists, a conversation on the immense efforts of song revitalization, and a conversation about how Indigenous artistic practices on the Northwest Coast are impacting new mediums such as fashion and the digital arts.

This is the 15th anniversary of the Coastal Dance Festival and a short documentary will be made available by the Dancers of Damelahamid. Any ideas of what will be in the documentary?

Margaret: The short documentary will look at the story of the Coastal Dance Festival, and the relationships and artistic practices that have unfolded throughout its history. The film will touch on the role of Indigenous dance in cultural identity. It will feature the Indigenous sovereignty aspects of the cultural revitalization by Northwest Coast dance families, the alignment of those themes with the Coastal Dance Festival, and our visions of the future.

What are you most excited for attendees to experience when they attend the festival? What do you hope they gain after leaving?

Margaret: We are excited to be gathering again to share our songs, dances and stories in person. There is a sweetness to this year's festival that brings together our young artists and our Elders. The pandemic has reminded us of the importance of gathering and carrying our arts forward to the younger generations. I hope that our audiences can experience how important these practices are for the artists and how much meaning song and dance carries. I always feel so much gratitude to the artists for their generosity in sharing from the heart.

The Coastal Dance Festival will take place from April 20-22, 2022 at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster, BC. For more information about tickets, the festival, and the Dancers of Damelahamid's documentary film premiere, visit https://damelahamid.ca/coastal-dance-festival/

Photo: Margaret Grenier photographed by Chris Randle.

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