Held in Vancouver BC on unceded Coast Salish Territory, Matriarchs Uprising is a performance festival that celebrates contemporary Indigenous dance, offering a program of performances, events, and circle conversations led by local and international Indigenous female artists. The festival is a platform for artists and audiences to come together and celebrate connections from across different nations and Indigenous worldviews through dance. Matriarchs Uprising brings together Indigenous women who are both nurturing and advancing the art of contemporary dance.

This year’s theme is ‘Indigenous Futurism – Stories of Transformation’. Works shared in this year’s festival are offered as a way to invite our audience-witnesses to consider the aspects of our future selves that we can cultivate today. By looking to our past for the ways our ancestors were able to navigate the challenges they faced and retain their cultural practices against all odds, we have a strong base from which we can come together and create the future that carries us forward in a good way. As the fifth iteration, this year’s festival supports the vision of our artists and opens new ways for audience-witnesses to connect with their own futures through the creativity and imaginative forces offered in the works presented.

Produced by O.Dela Arts in partnership with The Dance Centre, Dance West Network, Training Society of Vancouver, Dumb Instrument Dance / Morrow and with support from the Government of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, and the City of Vancouver.

Dancer/Photographer credits: Santee Smith / Shane Powless;  Sophie Dow / Vitantonio Spinelli; Olivia C. Davies / Erik Zennström