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Indigenous Music, Dance Event Coming To Lenfest
Washington and Lee University’s Lenfest Center will welcome Red Sky Performance, honoring its origin story with “A Night of Miigis Moments, An Evening with Red Sky,” on Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Keller Theatre.
Tickets are required. Tickets prices are $35 for the general public, $32 for seniors, $29 for W&L faculty and staff and $8 for W&L students. Online ticket sales are available at my.wlu.edu/ lenfest-center. The box office is open for in-person sales Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Patrons can contact the box office by calling (540) 458-8000 or emailing [email protected]. Red Sky Performance is a leading company of contemporary Indigenous performance (dance, theater, music and media) in Canada and worldwide.
Red Sky Performance was founded by artistic director Sandra Laronde (Misko Kizhigoo Migizii Kwe), which means “Red Sky Eagle Woman” in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway) language.
Laronde’s concept of performance explores the relationship between movement, live music, theatricality and image. Her engagement in these disciplines involves collaborations with dancers, musicians, composers, choreographers, visual artists, actors, writers, designers, researchers and culture keepers — all integral to Red Sky Performance’s productions.
“Story” is paramount to Red Sky because Laronde sees stories as the embodiment of Indigenous voice, ethos and key to empowerment.
Directed and choreographed by Laronde with dancers and live musicians, a “Night of Miigis Moments, An Evening with Red Sky” brings both contemporary and traditional Indigenous dance to the forefront.
“Miigis” is a new contemporary dance and live music work that draws inspiration from a prophecy in which the Anishinaabe must move or perish. It is about a remarkable journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes as Red Sky explores catalysts for movement, water trade routes, Anishinaabe archetypes and mystery beings on a migration from salt to fresh water.
Traditional Indigenous dance will be performed by twins Kehew and Kirby Buffalo — Plains prairie dancers from Maskwacis, Alberta-Treaty 6 territory. They will be dancing the prairie chicken style, which is a benchmark in shaping their identity as Nehiyaw (Plains Cree) men. The twins have been performing since they could walk and are deeply steeped in the cultural ways of the Plains Cree.
Throughout the performance, original music by Red Sky Performance, will be performed live by Rick Sacks, Marie Gaudet and Ian de Souza.
Miigis,” was the winner of 2023 Dora Mavor Morre Award; and original music can be heard on Spotify.
The event here is sponsored in part by Class of ’64 Performing Arts Fund; Pickens World Music Fund; Native American Indigenous Cohort Diversity; Inclusion and Student Engagement; Art and Art History; Latin American Caribbean Studies; and Theater, Dance, and Film Studies.
