Mid-Summer 2009

Photo Credit: David Hou

Overall, this past season has been an active year of touring to many destinations and venues across the country and beyond. Our latest production, Tono, was a highlight at the 2009 Luminato Festival and played to capacity houses at the Fleck Dance Theatre on June 5, 6, 7, 2009 in Toronto. Earlier this season, Tono was part of the Closing Ceremonies of the cultural programming of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2008 Meet in Beijing Festival, International Arts and Culture Festival in Inner Mongolia, and the 2008 Summer Arts Festival at The Banff Centre. Paula Citron from the Globe and Mail cited that “Tono is a ravishingly beautiful dance work. The six dancers recreate a stampede that builds with excitement...absolutely stunning stretches and body twists. Clever sequences abound." - Globe and Mail

From July 25, 2009, our artistic director Sandra Laronde attended the Assembly of First Nation's history-making assembly where new National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo came to power after a record-breaking eight-ballot vote by nearly 600 Chiefs from across Canada.

On June 26 - 28, 2009, Sandra Laronde served on the advisory committee and participated in the Canada Dance Festival's "Dancing In, Through and Between Cultures Towards a Space of Mutuality". This forum was designed to promote discussions of culture, identity and belonging, and was held at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. On June 16, 2009, our artistic director was also a panelist for "Dancing Community in Canada: Ideas, Practices and Outcomes" facilitated by the Society for Canadian Dance Studies at the University of Calgary.

Our Winter/Spring tour of Raven, spanned from February 22 through to May 1, 2009 with 61 performances to family audiences in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. This varied and exciting tour led us to new venues in B.C. including the Vernon Performing Arts Centre (Vernon), Evergreen Centre (Coquitlam), ArtSpring Centre (Salt Spring Island), and the North Vancouver Centennial Centre (Vancouver). In Alberta, Red Sky also performed at the Shell Theatre (Fort Saskatchewan), and the Maclab Centre for the Performing Arts (Leduc).

The Ontario leg of this tour provided even more opportunities for Red Sky to venture into more rural and remote communities, including Keswick, Sutton, Parry Sound, Temagami, Manitouwadge, Wawa, Marathon, Terrace Bay, Blind River, Sault Ste. Marie, and Nipigon. Red Sky also toured extensively within the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa Valley Region schools, aiming for a balance between urban and rural audiences. Maranda Seville, a teacher from Blind River states: “The play was absolutely amazing! The students loved it and said it was the best play they have ever seen!"

The combined tour of last season for both Tono and Raven reached over 42,896 audience members in total - with 93 performances (Raven) in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan and 17 performances (Tono) in Beijing, Toronto, Banff and Inner Mongolia.

Upcoming this season is our Tono tour to Western Canada where we will grace the stages in Calgary, Alberta; Edmonton, Alberta; Lethbridge, Alberta; Vancouver, British Columbia and Whitehorse, Yukon, in January and February 2010. We also look forward to continuing our high profile tour of Tono to Asia later in 2010.

Upcoming for our family programming, Raven, will tour from October 13 through to June 24, 2010. Red Sky will tour to venues, theatres, schools and festivals in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Manitoba and the United States. We will perform over 135 shows in venues such as the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Illinois, USA; Port Theatre in Nanaimo, British Columbia; Michael J. Fox Theatre in Burnaby, British Columbia; Esplanade Theatre in Medicine Hat, Alberta; Canmore International Children’s Festival in Alberta, Cowichan Aboriginal Festival in B.C., to name a few of the many venues that we look forward to visiting.

In terms of our Community Connections, Red Sky’s exciting pilot project, the Deep Waters Project, kick started a revitalization of professional arts development in the Temagami area with workshops in arts committee development, cultural and community mapping, arts presentation planning and grant writing sessions. Working with the Temagami Artistic Collective, Red Sky’s performance of Raven Stole the Sun was the first of three events happening in the Temagami area that generated a ripple of excitement throughout the community. The second event was the sold-out Deep Waters Music Project that included the talents of music sensation Shane Yellowbird, and local outstanding talents of the Deep Water Band, David Laronde, and the Eight Thunderbirds. Complementing this concert was a voice intensive for 16 aspiring and mid-career singers from the Temagami, Bear Island Reserve, New Liskeard, Cobalt, Haileybury and Notre Dame du Nord communities.

Red Sky has performed to over 200,000 audience members in six countries on four continents. We perform in large theatre venues in urban centres as well as rural, remote and reserve communities.