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  • Naadmaagewin . . . The Art of Working Together in Our Communities
  • Marrie Mumford (bio)

The Creation Story of Walking at the Edge of Water


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Shirley Williams and Liz Osawamick collecting water at Pamaadashkodeyang (Rice Lake) for the 2013 Water Walk. Photo: Georgie Horton Baptiste.

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Photo Essay Design by Cara Mumford

. . . at the centre of the most relevant issue of our time, In her multifaceted diversity, is Water, guiding us towards learning about our planet, our spirit, ourselves . . .

—Rulan Tangen

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Photo 1.

Wiky Bay from Mary’s Tipi, 1997. Acrylic on canvas, 24′ × 30′ by Christi Belcourt (www.christibelcourt.com).

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Dr. Leanne Simpson, in her book Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back (2011a), writes “In Nishnaabeg thought, resurgence is dancing on our turtle’s back; it is visioning and dancing new realities and worlds into existence.” The creation story of Walking at the Edge of Water was informed by the Anishinaabeg1 process of Naadmaagewin, working with Anishinaabeg Grandmothers through Aadizookaan (ceremonies, traditional teachings) and Debaajimowin (ordinary stories, personal stories, histories) (Simpson 2011a). New realities and worlds were envisioned and danced into existence during a journey that took place in Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space at Trent University; the journey began in 2011with student investigations that led to the creation and production of a work-in-progress. This work developed into a site-specific work in 2012 and resulted in the creation of a major new work that has since performed in Santa Fe, New Mexico twice (in 2012 and 2013) and toured to New York City and New Zealand (both in 2013).

Platiality: Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space

Nozhem is the vision of Elder and Grandmother Edna Manitowabi,2 supported by the Department of Indigenous Studies at Trent University, and seven First Nations in this region, Nogojiwanong . . . the place at the foot of the rapids, where the ancestors sing (otherwise known as Peterborough) in southern Ontario, Canada. The First Nations include six Michi Saagig Nishnaabeg territories and one Mohawk territory. In Anishinaabemowin (the Ojibwe language), Nozhem is the name for the female bear and Edna chose Mkwa (the Bear) to represent the theater because she embodies the characteristics of transformation, balance and knowledge, which are essential components to Indigenous ways of knowing.

My role as Canada Research Chair (CRC) was to animate Nozhem to become an innovative international Indigenous center of creativity. I pursued my research objectives through a combination of programming professional Indigenous performance activities in Nozhem, while providing a creative and safe environment for regional artists and a community of learners at Trent. The Indigenous Studies department, through Indigenous Performance Initiatives (IPI), celebrated the opening of Nozhem with Spiderwoman Theater’s Persistence of Memory in the fall of 2004. Nozhem has since become a centre for living research to investigate traditional Indigenous performance practices while creating and/or co-producing contemporary original works merging cultural history with current concerns. To initiate programs, I called upon numerous Indigenous artists and traditional performance specialists from this region and around the world – those who have the knowledge of Indigenous performance traditions and have worked consistently for the perpetuation of these practices. Nozhem is the first performance space of its kind at a Canadian university.

My research in Nozhem was inspired by the Habima Theatre, founded in Moscow in 1917 following the revolution. I was introduced to the Habima Theatre in the 1970s, while studying in New York City. Harold Clurman, founding director of the Group Theatre, said of Habima, “This is a story of a vision, of a dream that became a reality.” He also wrote, “Two goals beckoned its earliest members. One was the need to create for the theatre a new and vital form. . . . The other was the desire to recreate among the Jewish people an awareness of their identity, of the majesty of their history, and of the lyric grandeur of their language” (Clurman 1957, n.p.).

During my first five-year term as CRC at Trent (from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2008), I established Indigenous Performance Initiatives (IPI), a research advisory council and collective to fundraise for...

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