TORONTO – “All past experiences come to a meeting point,” said Santee Smith of her time on the stage. The Mohawk dancer, choreographer, and singer is speaking about her latest ongoing project “Kaha:wi” (pronounced “Gah-ha’-wee”), a contemporary dance piece that combines traditional Iroquoian and modern styles.
“Kaha:wi” recently premiered at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto to rapturous applause. The piece – still a work in progress – celebrates the circle of life, Smith said. “‘Kaha:wi’ means ‘She Carries’ and it’s a Mohawk family name that has been passed over the generations in my family. It was my grandmother Rita Vyse’s name and now it’s my daughter Semiah’s.”
Her family embodies the spirit of her show and its inspiration. Through dance and music, “Kaha:wi” follows the life of three Iroquois women: a grandmother, a mother, and a new daughter. “The piece is inspired by my grandmother’s passing and the birth of my daughter,” she said. “Her passing and my daughter’s birth happened over the course of a year. It was very powerful and emotional.”
Smith’s path to the stage was not typical of most professional dancers. A graduate of Canada’s prestigious National Ballet School, where she lived between the ages of 12 and 18, Smith came to ballet by accident. “I broke each of my legs on two separate occasions,” she said. “The doctor suggested to my parents that they find an activity that would strengthen my legs.”
They chose a ballet school in Brantford, Ontario, nearby her home on the Six Nations of the Grand River reservation. “I’d been dancing since I was very young,” Smith said. “I would get lost in any music that would play and just move to the sound.” Ballet gave her formal training and structure, and more importantly exposed her to contemporary dance.
After graduation, she became disillusioned with the ballet world. “I had my doubts,” she stated. “I thought dancing wasn’t for me. It was a part of growing up and maturing as an artist. I lived in two worlds: the ballet world and the Mohawk world that I grew up in.”
The two worlds were sometimes at odds in her school years. Worried that she did not have suitable Native role models in ballet, her parents, celebrated potters Steve and Leigh Smith, drove the young dancer to Chicago in search of Maria Tallchief, the Osage dancer and famous prima ballerina. “She was an inspiration to me then,” Smith said.
After a five-year break from dancing, in which time Smith completed a degree in kinesiology for a then-planned career as a physiotherapist; she came back to the performing arts after an offer she couldn’t refuse.
“I blame Gary Farmer for getting me back to the performing arts,” she laughed. Farmer, the actor and producer, asked Smith to choreograph dance scenes in the National Film Board of Canada’s documentary “The Gift.” The film focused on Native corn ceremonies but out of respect for the rituals, they could not be filmed. “Gary asked me to find a way to embody the ceremony in dance without misrepresenting it,” she said.
This task proved to be a turning point in her career.
“I always had an interest in drawing from my culture,” she said. Her experience on “The Gift” showed her the possibilities of blending her two worlds into one that was distinctly her own.
“The core of what I’m doing right now is informed by Mohawk culture,” Smith said. “I base my work on the essence, power, and beauty of our traditions and tie that to the contemporary stage.”
With “Kaha:wi” Smith used her personal experiences and set it to music. “I really wanted to work with Iroquoian singers and songwriters,” she explained. “I asked them to create new works for the show based on particular scenes. They all responded positively and enthusiastically to the project.” What evolved was a compilation of music as moving and eclectic as it is reflective of Smith’s inspiration for the dance.
Released simultaneously with the opening of “Kaha:wi” was a CD of music from the show. Featuring performances from Sadie Buck, Randy Henry, and Floyd Harris, the compilation – a kind of soundtrack to Smith’s show – is itself a groundbreaking work. “It was a balloon effect,” she said. “The music project got larger and larger. Like the show, it was a little seed that grew every day and it just seemed logical to produce a CD.”
On the stage of the Isabel Bader Theatre, the audience witnessed a seamless blend of dance and music both traditional and contemporary. Joined by dancers April Doxtator, Joshua Mora, Carla Soto and Tamara Podemski, Smith displayed her professionalism and her emotions.
Smith hopes to tour “Kaha:wi” throughout North America in 2004 after the completed show officially premieres at the Canada Dance Festival at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in June of next year. She is also slated to perform at the opening of the new National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall in Washington in September 2004.
“I’m maturing as a performer,” she said. “I know now where I can go emotionally and professionally. It’s rewarding.”
For more information, visit www.santeesmithdance.com.
