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Red Sky occupies a particular place in the Canadian performance landscape, charting unexplored cultural links with peoples around the world. Established in 2000, Red Sky is a dynamic young company that is playing a pivotal role in shaping Aboriginal contemporary performance forms. Red Sky produces original works that explore new areas of dance, theatre and music performance. Raven Stole the Sun (2003) is based on a traditional story from the West Coast. Before there were stars, a moon, and a sun, the people of the earth lived in darkness. Their only light was a campfire. This story tells how the trickster Raven transforms himself and comes up with a brilliant scheme for stealing the stars, moon and the sun. This piece was created in October 2003, and incorporates theatre, dance, storytelling, music and mask.
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Photo CreditsRed Sky's Tono. Concept/director/co-choreographer Sandra Laronde with co-choreographer Roger Sinha. Photo credit: Don Lee Red Sky's Tono. Concept/director/co-choreographer Sandra Laronde with co-choreographer Roger Sinha. Photo credit: Laura Vanagas Sandra Laronde, founding artistic director of Red Sky Performance. Photo credit: Paula Wilson |
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Sandra Laronde, founding artistic director of Red Sky Performance. Photo credit: Paula Wilson |
Artistic Director
Founding Artistic Director Sandra Laronde is an award-winning writer, performer and artistic producer, who draws on her identity as a member of the Teme-Augama-Anishnabe (People of the Deep Water) of Temagami, in northern Ontario, to inspire her work. Founder and former co-artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts, she honed her artistry during a period as artist-in-residence in Mexico City, working with choreographer Georgina Martínez. She has also worked with, and has been influenced by, choreographers Peter Chin (Dancing Americas), Michael Greyeyes (Buffalo Jump) and Denise Fujiwara (Murmuring Blood).
On Tour
CARIBOU SONG
February/2000/Toronto/Canada
20 minutes
2 performers + 3 musicians
Peter Chin, Carlos Rivera & Sandra Laronde
Caribou Song (2000) – Caribou Song appeals to an
inter-generational audience, especially children
ages five and up. Caribou Song employs dance,
theatre, storytelling and live music. Caribou Song
centers on one northern Cree family’s relationship
to the caribou. Caribou Song is a story about two children, Jo and Cody, who love to dance and play
the accordion. They live in Canada's far north.
Caribou Song, based on a story by Tomson Highway,
has been performed at Soundstreams, a Circumpolar
Arts Festival, and Roy Thomson Hall with the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra. It has also toured to
Manitoba and Switzerland.
DANCING AMERICAS
March/2003/Toronto/Canada
50 minutes
6 + 1 musician
Peter Chin
Dancing Americas (2003) – This Canadian/Mexican
production explores the relationship of the First
Peoples of the Americas through the metaphor of
the migratory monarch butterfly and features live
music with traditional indigenous Mexican instrumentation. Four performers from Mexico and four
from Canada have combined forces to create and
shape this contemporary stage phenomenon.
Dancing Americas is set to original, live music by acclaimed master composer Antonio Zepeda.
Leading into Dancing Americas, there is a 15-minute
Grass Dance solo performed by men’s champion
Grass Dancer Matthew Pheasant. This program
incorporates traditional dance to set the stage, or
“prepare the grounds”, for the presentation of the
contemporary stage, Dancing Americas.
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