Reconciling the truth through dance
BALLET: Going Home Star explores life as a young, urban First Nations woman
Ten years ago, a Cree elder named Mary Richard approached Royal Winnipeg Ballet artistic director Andre Lewis with an idea.
“She wanted to commission a ballet. She was an aficionado of ballet and a supporter of the RWB.”
Richard knew the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood had commissioned a ballet version of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe in the 1970s and “she wanted something like that that would bring aboriginal and non-Aboriginal closer together,” Lewis said.
However, nothing could happen immediately.
“I had told her I was interested. I had danced the role of Jamie in Rita Joe,” Lewis said. “I felt it was the right thing to do, but our planning is three to five years in advance. Unfortunately, she passed away, but the idea remained in the back of my head.”
Timing is important in artistic decisions and about six years ago, in a meeting with the Royal Winnipeg’s programming committee, Richard’s idea resurfaced.
“Tina Keeper, the actor, activist and former MP, is on that committee and she knew I was interested in pursuing a new work based on aboriginal issues,” Lewis said. “She suggested something based on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was just starting at the time.”
The idea clicked and Lewis asked the committee if it would support the project.
“I certainly was not willing to do anything of that kind without their support. And they were unquestionably yes. We were thrilled. They offered moral support and some financial help. This was, in their view, a way to move the message forward of what happened and how to reconcile. In essence, it supported what Mary had wanted to do.”
It took several more years before it became reality.
“We thought that for our 75th anniversary to have a work of such significance and weight would be appropriate. That’s what we did.”
And so Going Home Star debuted in October 2014.
Going Home Star — Truth and Reconciliation explores the world of Annie, a young, urban First Nations woman. She meets Gordon, a longhaired trickster disguised as a homeless man, and is propelled into a world she has sensed, but never seen. Not only do they travel the streets of the city, but also the roads of their ancestors. They learn the difficult story of the Indian residential school system.
Going Home Star was a complex project. First of all, it was artistically ambitious. That’s inherent in a new work based on a powerful story. That’s why Lewis contracted a choreographer he knew could deliver.
He chose Mark Godden and took some heat for the choice. Godden is white and that offended some who felt an aboriginal story should be told by an aboriginal person.
“To my way of thinking, this is a Canadian story. The (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada) agreed with me,” Lewis said. “All of Canada has a stake in reconciling so that we as a society can move forward.”
He did tell Godden, however, it was important the creative teams not be all white.
“The work should be about a Canadian story and the team should reflect that story, so that’s why we have Joseph Boyden (the Metis writer). We have the Northern Cree Singers, who were recorded, and music by (Inuk performer and Polaris Prize winner) Tanya Tagaq.”
There are no aboriginal dancers. But Lewis is clear about that.
“We create for our dancers. It’s not that I wouldn’t want aboriginal dancers necessarily. But our dancers can be Asian and representing Sleeping Beauty, a French story.”
Dance is an integral part of indigenous culture, he acknowledges, but “the commission said it did not want hoop dancing. It wanted a real ballet. Mary had wanted another Swan Lake. She didn’t get that, but she did get something that is on point and made for classically trained dancers.”
Boyden built it around characters from his books Three Day Road and Through Black Spruce, Lewis says.
Lewis says he knew his artistic team would create something that would not offend the indigenous community.
After all, he had Keeper involved in the process.
“If she had found something unacceptable, she would have said it.”