Jacob's Pillow Presents Canada's Red Sky Performance As Centerpiece Of Celebration Of Indigenous Culture

Red Sky Performance makes their Doris Duke Theatre debut with the U.S. Premiere of Trace, August 7-11. Red Sky is a leading company of contemporary Indigenous performance in Canada and worldwide, led by Artistic Director Sandra Laronde. "Magnificent in the scope of its imagination" (Globe and Mail),

Trace is a highly kinetic contemporary dance work influenced by Anishinaabe sky and star stories, offering a glimpse into Indigenous origins. The U.S. premiere of Trace is the centerpiece of The Land On Which We Dance, a landmark gathering of Indigenous dance and culture at Jacob's Pillow, curated by Sandra Laronde in association with Hawaiian dancer/choreographer Christopher K. Morgan and Massachusetts-based Nipmuc Elder Larry Spotted Crow Mann.

"Jacob's Pillow's identity is entwined with the beauty and majesty of our land and natural surroundings. It is important to welcome back to the Pillow the original inhabitants of this land with a landmark celebration that will not only assemble local elders and artists, but also a premiere company like Red Sky Performance, whose work acts as a vehicle for storytelling and transformation," says Jacob's Pillow Director Pamela Tatge.

In an interview with the Smithsonian's American Indian Magazine, Laronde says, "The idea of Trace came from the notion that all things are traceable and what we leave behind as humans, as a culture, as a nation, and as an individual is our legacy." In creating the work, Laronde realized all traces have origins, and then began to question the origin of Indigenous people and more specifically, Anishinaabe people. The ideas of Trace are shared through athletic choreography for seven dancers performed alongside three musicians, who are saturated by and interact with projected night sky and land. The Toronto Star applauds Trace as "an original statement about the continuity of continental cultures that speak to each other and to us, across the centuries."

The Land On Which We Dance, the weeklong celebration of Indigenous past, present, and future, begins on Wednesday, August 7, and concludes on Sunday, August 11. Since its founding in 1933, Jacob's Pillow has engaged with Indigenous peoples, cultures, and traditions, and The Land On Which We Dance serves to revitalize the Pillow's commitment to acknowledging the first known inhabitants of the land through elevating Indigenous work. The Pillow's campus will be illuminated with an exchange of song, dance, and storytelling, bringing together local Indigenous peoples with contemporary artists based in the U.S. and Canada, and inviting all to participate. Sandra Laronde, of the Teme-Augama Anishinaabe (People of the Deep Water), Founder and Artistic Director of Red Sky Performance, has worked with Jacob's Pillow to curate this celebration, in association with Christopher K. Morgan and Nipmuc Elder Larry Spotted Crow Mann.

Additional featured artists include Martha Redbone, multi-award-winning blues and soul singer of Cherokee, Choctaw, European, and African-American descent; and internationally celebrated singer Soni Moreno (Mayan/Apache/Yaqui ), among others.

On Saturday, August 10 at 4pm in a free PillowTalk, Sandra Laronde and Christopher K. Morgan will have dialogue about the challenges in maintaining Indigenous dance traditions in today's increasingly diverse world.

Doris Duke Theatre, August 7-11

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:15pm

Saturday and Sunday at 2:15pm

$35, $45

A limited number of $20 Under 35 tickets are available; adults ages 18-35 are eligible. One ticket per person; each guest must show valid I.D. when picking up tickets at Will Call.

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