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Member Spotlight: Q&A with Yvonne Chartrand | Artistic Director, V’ni Dansi & The Louis Riel Métis Dancers

How would you describe V’ni Dansi in a sentence?

V’ni Dansi inspires a Mitchif (Métis) worldview through traditional and contemporary dance expressions, preservation and innovation guided by our ancestors’ strength, love and resilience.

What was the artistic path that led you to building the company?

In 1985 my older sister invited me to join a Mitchif (Métis) dance group in Winnipeg called the Gabriel Dumont Dancers and at the same time I discovered contemporary dance through a performance by the Winnipeg Contemporary dancers at the University of Manitoba when I was in Fine Arts. My drawing professor took us to the studio to draw them and all I could think about was I want to do that and so I did. I was inspired to be a dancer, a choreographer, a teacher, have my own company and a space to create and dance… so far all is achieved and ScotiabankDance Centre is our home space.

I moved to Vancouver in 1989, continued to dance and then did my contemporary dance training with the Main Dance Professional Training Program 1995-98 when the lovely Gisa Cole was Artistic Director. I did an extra mentorship year and I mentored with the late Paula Ross who created a solo for me and then became a Paula Ross Dancer. I also mentored with Katherine Labelle and Karen Jamieson where Lee Ann Smith came to give company class and she offered me my first dance work. After graduating, I wrote my first grant and created a solo work which I still perform today. I became co-founder of Raven Spirit Dance and loved the work with the company however then journeyed on to create V’ni Dansi and The Louis Riel Metis Dancers. 

What inspires the work the company creates?

I wanted to create a space for a Mitchif (Métis) world view through preservation of our traditional dances, give opportunities to youth to lift them up and to also innovate with our contemporary square dances and contemporary dance. My first works were sharing stories from a Métis perspective, namely a solo work honouring Métis woman, then group works about the Red River and Saskatchewan resistances, as sharing our truths from our perspective was important for our voices to be heard. Then my elder suggested I mentor with Robin Poitras so I entered the world of intellectual art and a more impressionistic, poetic way of creating. My beautiful culture has remained the inspiration for the work I continue to create.

How would you describe dance’s impact on your life?

Dance has nurtured and taken care of me during the most difficult and challenging times of my life. After the loss of my late daughter Lily Joseph, I had a vision of Louis Riel who came to me in dream time and spoke to me saying “ with my sword and my shield I shall protect thee.” I woke up feeling his spirit touching my heart and I cried thinking how he gave his life for his people and then I swung to crying for great joy that I could share a moment with him. I believe our dances are sacred and it is a natural way of life to dance and to love and to be with a good feeling, being in harmony and kinship with all things is the natural way to be and dance in my life brings healing, connection and a good life like how our people lived before colonialism.

What three core values drive your engagement with dance? 

Kindness, honesty, caring and sharing and strength of faith, actually the four directions principles and the multi-layered teachings of the medicine wheel as shared with me by my elders. Another Elder shared that you cannot live in just the contemporary world or the traditional world, you need to embrace both thus V’ni Dansi as the contemporary dance and the Louis Riel Métis Dancers as traditional dance.

Any upcoming projects or news you can share with us?

We are presently on a BC Tour with our latest production La Mitchin di Mitchif an international collaboration co-choreographed by Yvonne Chartrand and Rulan Tangen from Dancing Earth from Sante Fe, New Mexico. Inspired by cultural ancestral knowledge of Mitchif plant medicines, the work celebrates the peoples’ connection to Mother Earth and highlights the importance of plant medicine in Indigenous cultures.

Also, V’ni Dansi is celebrating its 25 year anniversary and the 20 year Anniversary of our annual Louis Riel Day Celebrations which will be happening on Saturday, November 15 this year!

What would you say are the most significant benefits for you in being a Dance Centre member?

The Dance Centre has been the home of the Louis Riel Métis Dancers for almost twenty years, where we gather and dance in the beautiful Marcuse dance studio having the freedom to do our traditional smudge outside. V’ni Dansi has received multiple creative studio residencies, technical residencies, co-presentations, performances workshops etc. which lifts our people up to share the love, joy and beauty of our culture. The Dance Centre is vital in providing connection for all dance artists to an international dance community.

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Photos: Choreography: Yvonne Chartrand, Dancers: Esme Olivia, Sarah Hogland-Gurule, Madelaine McCallum, Eloi Homier/Chris Randle; Dancer: Yvonne Chartrand/Chris Randle