Land-Based Theatre and Performance in Sovereign Artistic Ceremonies of Selected Indigenous Artists from Canada

The article focuses on the problem of Indigenous theatrical sovereignty which is examined on the basis of theater/performance theories and practices by such Aboriginal artists/theorists/performers from Canada as Floyd Favel, Monique Mojica and Kim Senklip Harvey. The theoretical framework of this study focuses on the decolonization and indigenization of theatrical practices, and specifically on theater as artistic ceremony and theater as a research methodology. The selected artists vehemently oppose colonial violence, exploitation and marginalization of Indigenous populations, their lands and cultures. They are interested in the reclamation and revitalization of Indigenous philosophies and traditions via theater/performance. They explore the development of dramatic techniques informed by Indigenous philosophies rooted in the Indigenous holistic concept of the land as sacred, as a living entity, and an archive of stories. They believe in the plural nature of reality, and they honor non-anthropocentric perspectives and relational worldviews. Each of the artists is discussed with reference to theories and methods informed by research into their specific cultures and knowledges, which they reclaim and transform into performance. Favel is discussed as a pioneer of Indigenous dramaturgies whose principles were abstracted from selected elements of his Plains Cree cultural traditions. His “Native Performance Culture” is the first documented theory and method consciously created from Aboriginal heritage. Mojica’s methods are shown as developed from her research into structures and principles abstracted from mola, the textile art of her ancestors, Kuna people, as well as from her embodied research into pre-contact earthworks and mounds. Harvey’s innovative theater methodologies, “Salish Earthing” and “Fire Creation Methodology,” are reflected upon as grounded in her strong relation to the Salish land. The artists challenge the Western theatre conventions, and replace them with sovereign land-based Indigenous theater/performance processes and methodologies, aiming to create the acts of healing, community making, resurgence, survivance, as well as the respect and care for the land and all creation. They offer hope at the time of diverse global environmental, social and cultural crises.

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