KĀHKĀKIW

Adult and teen audience, 13 years +

Without words

KĀHKĀKIW is a contemporary dance piece with characters drawn from Cree stories. The Raven (kāhkākiw) character from the title avoids the mantle of colonial epistemological frameworks with his deft, evasive dance. Materials for the bunraku-inspired puppets include soil and sawdust from the streets of Montréal, sand from local parks, wood from dead trees, fabric from the artist’s old clothing and homemade glues.

Running Time: 40 minutes
Techniques:  Video, Dance and Bunkaru-Inspired Puppets

Photos

Company

Tyson Houseman is a Cree actor, artist, puppeteer, and stilt walker. He currently spends his winters in Montréal creating politically engaged performance works based on his aboriginal heritage, and his summers are spent working with the Bread and Puppet Theater Company on their beautiful farm in Glover, Vermont.

Kyla Gilbert is a puppeteer and a performer with a background in environmental biology. She is interested in exploring the movements and interplay of humans and objects. She is currently studying sculpture at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Gilbert and Houseman have performed together for years in the underground and political theatre circuit in Eastern North America and on world tour with DJ Kid Koala. Both earned BFAs from Concordia University.

Jamie Ross is an artist, pagan chaplain and early childhood educator. Creating and documenting queer communities is fundamental to his creative practice, a practice rooted in a sincere engagement with magic and that is interconnected with the rich artistic traditions of his ancestors – both cultural and biological. He has been active in artist-run culture for years as a programmer, an organizer and as an artist.

Credits

Creators and Performers: Tyson Houseman and Kyla Gilbert
Composer and Sound Designer: Devon Bate
Curator: Jamie Ross

A talk-back with the artists will be held after the 1:30 p.m. performance on March 8.