Dancing Our Identity: Four Fundamental Aspects Necessary in Generating a More Complex Understanding of Northwest Coast First Nations Dance.
Figure 1: Spakwus Slulem Dancers, Photo: M. Dangeli
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D a n c e C e n t ra l J a nu r ay / Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 6
content, and as a guest artist at last month’s Talking Thinking Dancing Body facilitated by Justine A. Chambers. I am currently teaching a 400-level course that I designed for the First Nations and Indigenous Studies program at the University of British Columbia (UBC) called Protocol, Politics, and Place in Indigenous Performing Arts. My passion for educating the public, as well as dance artists of all genres, about Northwest First Nations dance is inspired by many sources. Foremost, it is generated by the love that I have for our First Nations communities and artists. Secondly, it comes as a result of the discrimination that I, and other Indigenous dance artists from this area, have undergone due to the lack of understanding about our practices. While conducting my doctoral research on Northwest Coast First Nations dance practices and collaborative processes at UBC from 2010-2015 (see the January/February 2016 issue of Dance Central for more information), it was strikingly common for the Indigenous dance artists that I interviewed to share with me how they are constantly confronted by preconceived notions suggesting that their dance practices are thought to be a tradition in the most oversimplified sense. Most often these dismissive comments happen in conversations with members of audiences, dance artists of all genres (even other Indigenous dance artists who are not from the Northwest Coast), and with arts administrators. Their preconceived notions suggest that Northwest Coast First Nations dance performances are merely unchanged routines of ancient songs and dances, unconsciously performed, and unengaged with the present. The dominance of