Contemporary Work

Stories from St. Laurent

Yvonne Chartrand is in the process of creating a new work called Stories from St. Laurent, which will draw on rich oral traditions and dances gathered from the elders of Canada’s most established Métis communities. We aim to present an excerpt at the Talking Stick Festival in February 2009. A full production of Stories from St. Laurent will premiere at the Firehall Arts centre in 2009 from April 1-4.

The Crossing

In 2006, Compaigni V’ni Dansi completed the creation of The Crossing, and presented the premiere in Saskatoon at Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company and at the Norman Rothstein Theatre, in Vancouver, for Louis Riel Day. The Crossing is a dance trilogy that depicts the years of the Métis Resistance from the hearts of the Métis people. This 90-minute piece combines three previous short works based on the lives of four distinct personalities who shaped the Métis resistance -- Marguerite Riel, Louis Riel and Madeleine Dumont and Gabriel Dumont.

Gabriel’s Crossing

Created in 2004, Gabriel’s Crossing is the story of the Métis chief Gabriel Dumont told through traditional storytelling and contemporary dance. This 60-minute play follows Dumont’s role in the Métis Resistance and his position as defender of the traditional Métis lifestyle. In 2005 and 2006, Gabriel’s Crossing toured BC schools as a youth production.

Marguerite

Marguerite is a 20-minute solo dance piece created by Yvonne Chartrand in 2001, which tells the story of the wife of Louis Riel and her life with the great Métis leader through a fusion of traditional and contemporary dance.