Dance-opera explores legacy of residential school system

TORONTO — It’s been more than two decades since the doors closed on Canada’s last residential school, but a new indigenous-led production explores the enduring effects of its legacy on the country.

“Bearing” had its world première on Thursday during the Luminato Festival in Toronto.

The dance-opera is a production of Canadian-based theatre company Signal Theatre, and has a deeply personal connection for show cocreators and co-directors Michael Greyeyes and Yvette Nolan, both of whom had parents in residential school.

“We wanted to make a piece that talks about how it’s not only indigenous people who are affected by the residential school system but all of Canada,” said the Winnipeg-raised Nolan, who was born in Prince Albert, Sask., to an Algonquin mother and Irish immigrant father.

“Really, it’s a system that’s existed for most of the country’s history.”

The first act sees the dancers — dubbed “The Canadians” — putting on costumes scattered throughout the space as they inhabit various memories and experiences attached to roles including clergy, lawyers and a residential school uniform. In contrast, an indigenous family remains barely seen by the Canadians.

The show then transitions to the Canadians taking their places within the residential school classroom while the indigenous family watches them live the experience. The third act is about “moving forward,” said Nolan.

“Bearing” includes music from Johann Sebastian Bach and Montreal composer Claude Vivier. The third act features “Sojourn, a work commissioned from Anishinaabe librettist Spy Denomme-Welch and Catherine Magowan. Marion Newman, a mezzo-soprano with Kwagiulth and Sto:lo roots, is also featured in the production.

“What I love about the way we’ve created ‘Bearing’ is that everyone has a really significant, authorial voice ... It’s much more of a conversation,” said Greyeyes, who is Plains Cree from the Muskeg Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan.

For Aria Evans, the process and the production itself are not “necessarily a history lesson” but a part of the modern-day conversation.

The dancer, whose heritage is Mik’maq, African and British, said the residential school system has been a point of discussion for her family. Her mother was a social worker and worked as a volunteer during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“That’s always a conversation that I have been a part of, but some of the people that we’re collaborating with have never known the true history of this nation that we’re a part of,” said Evans.

“I think that if we can start these conversations through the arts, and we can start these conversations beside people that are willing to be allies, these conversations will trickle out into the larger community and we will slowly effect change.

“I think that’s sort of the beauty and the power of the arts when we’re dealing with these really heavy and important topics.”

“Bearing” is onstage at the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre in Toronto until Saturday.

The Luminato Festival concludes Sunday.