Kevin MacDonald
Ballet dancers perform in Going Home Star: Truth and Reconciliation, a story that chronicles a young Aboriginal couple as they come to terms with the past As Canadians work to acknowledge the sins of generations past and mend the wounds left by the residential school system, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet is using the power of dance to work through the hurt.
Commissioned for the RWB’s 75th anniversary, Going Home Star: Truth and Reconciliation explores the physical and emotional impacts of residential schooling on Aboriginal communities and individuals. Residential schooling, which attempted to assimilate indigenous children into Euro-Canadian society, officially ended as a practice in Canada in 1996, but by that point residential schools had amassed a sorrowful 150-year history – a record of abuse and torment for indigenous children and their families.
Going Home Star, with a libretto written by award-winning Canadian novelist Joseph Boyden kicked off its national tour in Ottawa Jan. 28. Boyden, who is of Irish, Scottish and Anishinaabe heritage, is well-acclaimed for his writings on First Nations – specifically the Bird family trilogy, which includes the novel Three Day Road.
André Lewis, the ballet company’s artistic director, commissioned the show after discussing the concept of an aboriginal ballet with the late indigenous rights advocate Elder Mary Richard, Métis woman whom Lewis describes as “a force to be reckoned with.”
After Richard’s passing in 2010, Lewis let the idea fall by the wayside, not picking it up again until aboriginal activist and actress Tina Keeper joined the RWB board. Keeper, a Cree woman who was named a Truth and Reconciliation Commission Honorary Witness in 2012, began working on the concept of the ballet with Lewis seven years ago – shortly after the TRC began its work.
“I would have never ever touched this story if it had not been for Tina being on the team,” said Lewis.
Lewis said that he anticipated that their vision would be challenging to realize for a number of reasons.
“They are two very different cultures in the way they work, the way they interact,” said Lewis. “Ballet is not an aboriginal language – though neither is English, and there are aboriginal writers who write in English.”
Marrying elements of aboriginal culture with elements of European North American culture proved to be a continuous struggle, he said. By its nature, the ballet deals with very graphic and content that can, potentially, trigger intense emotional reactions among audience members.
“It’s a tough issue to talk about. For me, it’s not about the truth alone, but it’s also about the reconciliation part of it,” said Lewis. Each performance at the NAC had multiple health and wellness counsellors on hand to assist an audience members affected by the performance. Each show also began with a trigger warning advising audiences of the disturbing nature of the events depicted.
Additionally, the production has been challenged with regard to the diversity of the company. According to Lewis, the RWB has come under some fire for not using an exclusively indigenous artistic team. Lewis says that Going Home Star demands a more diverse touch.
“The creative team is composed of what I consider the mosaic of Canada. There are aboriginal people such as Joseph, such as Tina, such as Casey Adams, such as Northern Cree singers, but there are also non-aboriginal or non-indigenous people,” said Lewis. “As [head TRC commissioner] Murray Sinclair himself said, this is not an aboriginal story. This is a Canadian story. It’s a Canadian issue.”
Some have responded enthusiastically to the way the RWB has worked with such heavy material. Lewis said that residential school survivor Ted Fontaine attended every performance of the ballet in Winnipeg.
While Going Home Star strives to bring the issue to the attention of Canadians across the nation, it has also had a lasting effect on members of its cast.
“The Indian Residential School System was not something I was terribly familiar with before we started this project,” said Katie Bonnell, who played the role of Annie in the Jan. 30 performance at the NAC. “My eyes have just been completely opened to this huge chapter in our history that I should have known.”
Ryan Vetter, who played Charlie in the same show, concurred.
“With all the involvement with the First Nations community, we’ve felt so welcomed by a group of people who really don’t owe us anything.”
Going Home Star played in Kingston after its Ottawa run.