Dancers of Damelahamid has partnered with UBC’s Museum of Anthropology (MOA) to bring a spectacular show of First Nations culture to Vancouver. In the works are six days of signature acts, artist presentations, and school performances by indigenous artists from across North America.

Headlining the festival are hoop dancer Jesse McMann Sparvier from Calgary and sisters Urseloria and Nikollane Kanuho from Arizona, USA. Both acts are inspired by traditional pow wow dance and promise to provide spectacular entertainment and cultural education.

In their eighth year of the festival, Dancers of Damelahamid is a product of artistic director Margaret Grenier’s cultural history. A member of the Gitxsan Nation in northwest British Columbia, Grenier’s parents began the company out of the resurgence of First Nations song and dance with the lifting of the Potlatch Ban in the 1950s.

The festival is a mixture of many different First Nations traditional dances from across BC,  Yukon, Alaska, and Washington, along with special guests over the years coming from as far as Australia and Peru. “All of us who have been part of this festival are peoples who have gone through a lot of cultural loss,” reflected Grenier.

This year’s festival is also introducing a new presentation called Artist Talk — “an opportunity to learn a little bit more depth [and] how the songs and dances that were not practiced for such a long period of time [were brought] back,” explained Grenier. This year, Terry-Lynn Williams-Davidson, a Haida artist and lawyer of Aboriginal environmental law, will be presenting at the MOA on March 3.

Another significant aspect of the festival is its focus on bridging the gap between First Nations and non-First Nations communities. “I don’t see many opportunities, especially in larger urban centres, to really bring a number of communities together at this scale,” added Grenier.

The school performances also help to close the gap by educating youth on First Nations culture. Additionally, Grenier explained that there has been “so much experience with young aboriginal youth really finding cultural esteem and self-esteem in being part of the [school] performances.”

Furthermore, the festival provides First Nations communities with an opportunity to grow. Grenier noted how “the sharing [of cultures] makes [First Nations communities] non-static, the sharing makes it something relevant to people today.” She added that the festival is unique in that it “is not a festival where the artists feel like they are the only one group representing First Nation’s dance, so it opens up more opportunity to have certain songs and dances.

“The purpose of the festival really comes down to the community,” Grenier explained, “I think that the most important thing is to see the diversity of what is being shared — that each nation has a very unique dance practice, unique songs, and a unique history — [so that] generalizations [are not made about First Nations peoples].”

The Coastal First Nations Dance Festival will be held March 7 to 8 at the Museum of Anthropology. For more information, visit damelahamid.ca.