In-Person Cultural Presentations

By Various Presenters

Saturday, April 19th - 10AM-1PM (Doors ~9:30AM) - Multi-Purpose Room, Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre, Whitehorse YT

This year at the KDCC, Gwaandak Theatre is pleased to host three in-person cultural presentations on various topics. Each presentation will be approximately 45 minutes in length with short breaks in-between, plus a 30-minute break from ~11:40AM-12:10PM. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided and attendees are encouraged to pack a lunch as well as any materials mentioned by the presenters below. Pre-registration for this FREE event is encouraged, but not required.

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10:00AM-10:45AM - Rise & Shine - Music Medicine

By Elaine Jakesta

Although life's lessons aren't always happy, we can reach out to one another, to our Creator, and receive the peace and healing that is offered to us all from the land, air, water, and our heart's fire. Join Elaine Jakesta as she shares three of her songs: Overseeing Eagle, Turquoise Skies, and We Are One. Thank you for bringing your sunshine and Many Red Road Blessings!

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10:55AM-11:40AM - STORYWEAVING: The role of Elders teachings in contemporary storytelling and Indigenous Research

By Kikchuks Rae Mombourquette

In an era of social consciousness where reconciliation is becoming standard, is "Indigenizing" becoming just another check box? This discussion will cover topics related to human connection, permission to tell stories & playing with them, Intellectual property & copyright, and making space in a multilayered and corporate funding stream to establish the flexibility to weave in teachings, words and themes from Yukon First Nation Elders and their languages.

Attendees who wish to obtain a copy of The Winds Over Whitehorse: Thay T'äw Kwändür, by Rae Mombourquette & Tedd Tucker, can do so on Amazon. Copies of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation Community Advisory Committee Values and Calls to Action can be obtained from 35 McIntyre Drive, or on-line at: https://kwanlindun.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/KDFN-Community-Advisory-Committee-Submission_WEB-V2.pdf

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12:10PM-12:55PM - Ancestral Love and Colonial Shame

By Cece A Blossom

Reclaiming joy and authenticity on stage as a method of Indigenous revitalization. Embodying hope and love and allowing yourself to be seen, it takes courage. Cece A Blossom, is a daughter of the North and explores how shame influences ourselves and our bodies as an Indigiqueer femme. Join us for a conversation about autonomy, and sovereignty. Incorporating tradish styles and stories. How does a Northern Dene burlesque dancer practice cultural resurgence?

Through the stories of raven, how can we shed these colonial ideas of what a body is for? How can costuming contribute to storytelling? What stories are we telling? If we resist shame, what does that leave us open to? What does it mean to love? To be loved? To embody love? All these questions and more will be asked, and maybe even answered, as we gather for a conversation unpacking and undressing ancestral love and colonial shame.

Attendees are requested to bring a notebook and pen.

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Meet The Presenters

Elaine Jakesta is from the Tałtan Nation and is a singer/songwriter. At the age of 3 years, she grew up singing with her father, Jack Pauls, and family mentor, mother Millie Pauls. She has written most of her songs with the support of an acoustic guitar and a hide drum. Her band name is called Sacred Red Warriors. Native spiritual music as well as Country gospel fill her soul with balance and it's her joy to sing for the many Nations, ahoo!

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Rae Mombourquette is a Tlingit Acadian member of Kwanlin Dün First Nation, mother of two, and is passionate about promoting and preserving Indigenous Canadian history and culture through her work as the Yukon Representative on the Historic Sites & Monuments Board of Canada, and a Culture and Heritage Steward. In addition to technical writing and research, she uses storytelling and performing arts to communicate Indigenous Canadian themes.

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Cece A Blossom, is a daughter of the North and explores how shame influences ourselves and our bodies as an Indigiqueer femme. She's performed across the west, on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations, the land of the lək̓ʷəŋən People, on Chief Drygeese territory, her bedroom, your bedroom, and has now returned to Kwanlin Dün territory.

Pow wow 101

By Nyla Bedard

Saturday, April 19th - 3PM-4:30PM (Online Waiting Room Opens @ ~2:55PM) - Digital via Zoom, Yukon Time

This class gives an introduction to the different dance styles that you see at a Pow wow. Almost every dance style will be covered like traditional, jingle dress, grass dance and fancy. With over 30 years of experience, Nyla Bedard (Tahltan/Kaska), will guide participants through a 1.5 hour class. The start of the class will be a warm-up, followed by the teaching of the steps and then a brief cool down with stretching. Throughout the class Nyla will share what she has been taught about the history of Pow wow culture. Wear something comfortable that you can move in and have a water bottle handy.

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Nyla Bedard (Tahltan, Kaska, French, Scottish) is a multifaceted performing artist currently residing in North Vancouver. She's an actor, writer, powwow dancer and workshop facilitator. Nyla started to dance at powwows when she was a tiny tot and now has over 35 years of experience. She shares her experience by teaching the various powwow styles with focus on the fancy shawl, sharing the dance steps and the history. In 2011, in partnership with Raven Spirit Dance Company, she started the popular Powwow Bootcamp series.

Beading, collage, and art: an unconventional beading practice.

By Krystle Silverfox

Sunday, April 20th - 10AM-11:30AM (Online Waiting Room Opens @ ~9:55AM) - Digital via Zoom, Yukon Time

In this talk artist Krystle Silverfox will present a history of her artistic practice weaving together tangled threads and activism. This talk will discuss the importance of beading to Yukon First Nations artists as a tool to create community and solidarity.

Image: "tth'í yáw nan (thread beads land)" 2018, Krystle Silverfox

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Krystle Silverfox (b. 1984) is a Selkirk First Nation (Wolf Clan) interdisciplinary visual artist living and working on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Ta’an Kwach’an Council (Whitehorse, Yukon). Silverfox holds both a BFA in Visual Art (2015); a BA in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice from UBC (2013); also an MFA in Interdisciplinary studies from Simon Fraser University (2019). Inspired by a material- focused practice, Silverfox uses visual mediums to communicate ideas and tell stories. Silverfox’s work explores concepts of Indigenous futurism, feminism, activism, and de-colonialism.