Hundreds of St. Albert residents will be at Paul Kane this Friday for free dance show that uses Blackfoot culture and the music of Peter Gabriel to teach people about Indigenous history.
About 450 junior and senior high school students will be at Paul Kane April 21 to see a free performance of New Blood: A Story of Reconciliation. A free public performance will follow that evening.
New Blood is an acclaimed dance show that combines Blackfoot dance and song with the music of rock star Peter Gabriel to celebrate Indigenous history.
St. Albert Public Schools deputy superintendent Marianne Barrett said several teachers saw New Blood last year and told the district’s wisdom and guidance advisory group about it. That led to every teacher in the district packing the Citadel Theatre to see the show last June.
Barrett said the district decided to bring this show to a wider audience to teach students about Indigenous history and show off Paul Kane’s new theatre.
“We have a packed house for the two student performances,” she said, and up to 200 spots open for the general public during the evening performance.
Powerful message
Show director Deanne Bertsch said she got the idea for New Blood about nine years ago after visiting Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, which is famous for its Indigenous rock carvings and links to the Blackfoot people. A teacher at Strathmore High School east of Calgary, Bertsch worked with her students and experts from the Siksika Nation to create a show about Blackfoot history.
The show itself is based on the life of Chief Vincent Yellow Old Woman, a residential school survivor who became chief of the Siksika Nation. It premiered in 2014 and has been performed by 14 different casts across western Canada.
Bertsch said the show’s cast is made up of current and former Strathmore High students, many of whom are from Siksika.
“The kids that are playing the students who are in residential school are essentially playing their grandparents, because all of them have grandparents that attended residential school,” she said.
Skylar Running Rabbit has been with the show for about six years. He performs a traditional warrior’s dance in full regalia during the show.
“I myself am called a first-generation survivor of residential school,” Running Rabbit said, as he is the first member of his family in three generations to have not attended such an institution.
Strathmore High student Trinity Pretty Youngman plays The Child (the character based on Yellow Old Woman, whom she has actually met) in the show. She said she was inspired to join the show when she saw her sister perform in it.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for everyone to learn and listen,” she said of the show.
“It’s a part of Canadian history that can’t be ignored anymore.”
Pretty Youngman said the show uses the poem The Indian in the Child as a framework, with a narrator reading portions of it as the cast illustrates scenes from Yellow Old Woman’s life.
Barrett said she was struck by one scene where shadowy, faceless figures loomed over students sitting in desks at school.
“It really gave me a really eerie sense that kids at residential school did not feel safe in many ways.”
Pretty Youngman said her favourite part of the show was the Q&A at the end where people can talk with the cast.
“Some people have hugged me and they’ve cried in my arms.”
Running Rabbit said the show has helped youth in Siksika reconnect with their culture, and given him a chance to share stories his parents and grandparents might not be ready to tell themselves.
“There’s only so much that can be learned from reading Wikipedia pages and textbooks rather than feeling the emotions felt during the show,” said Running Rabbit, and those emotions can help people understand the show’s message.
“To be able to understand is the first step toward reconciliation, because without understanding, there’s nothing to reconcile.”
The evening performance of New Blood runs from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Paul Kane theatre. Visit www.studentquickpay.com/spschools/Default.aspx for tickets. (People not registered with St. Albert Public will need to create an account first.)
