Matriarchs Uprising employs tech to take female contemporary Indigenous dance into the future – Stir

February 9, 2023

The multifaceted festival features everything from VR films to dancing avatars while remaining rooted in ancestral world views

INDIGENOUS FUTURISM IS the theme of the fifth annual Matriarchs Uprising, a performance festival that celebrates contemporary female Indigenous dance. When Olivia C. Davies, the event’s founder and artistic director, reflects on the idea of looking forward, she thinks of a timeless philosophy rooted in her Anishnabe ancestry.

“In Anishinaabemowin we have a term called ‘Mino Bimaadiziwin’, or ‘the good life’,” Davies says in a phone interview with Stir. “The good life, as I understand it as an Anishinaabe-Kwe [female], it’s a way of setting the intention of finding the good life. There aren’t necessarily clear road maps beyond having our cultural teachings, having our language, and having a sense of ‘how did they do it before today? And ‘How can we continue to learn to bring about a better future for generations to come?’

Read More: https://www.createastir.ca/articles/matriarchs-uprising-2023