Percy Gladstone Memorial Dance
Percy Gladstone Memorial Dance
2005
About
The Percy Gladstone Memorial Dance is an extension and development of The Skidegate Project.* It was performed at the Museum of Anthropology as an off-site event for the 2005 Dancing on the Edge Festival, produced by the Firehall Arts Center, and was a three way partnership between the Karen Jamieson Dance company, the Museum Of Anthropology, and the Festival. It was a meeting of postmodern dance and traditional Haida dance with contemporary compositions from Haida composer Vern Williams and western composer John Korsrud. There is story telling on many levels, including the story of the creation of this work. The performance involved 19 dancers from Skidegate, between 5 and 8 urban Haida dancers, and one modern dancer.
*The Skidegate Project began in 2002 when Karen Jamieson undertook a process of creative collaboration with the Haida community of Skidegate, a village of about 900 people on Haida Gwaii. The focus of the collaboration was to create a dance memorial for Percy Gladstone, a Haida elder who was very close to Karen Jamieson in her formative years and a strong influence in her development. It was a 3 year process of intense cultural dialogue.
In January 2005, this 3 year project culminated in a performance event titled Percy Gladstone Memorial Dance, presented at the annual clan dinner of the Kaahdaas Gaah K’iiguwaay, Raven Wolf clan of Tanu. About 50 people participated as performers, and another 15 or so as translators, advisors, researchers, and artists.
See the link below for a full chronology and evolution of the project:
The Skidegate Project Report by Natalie Macfarlane
The People
Concept and choreography: Developed through a process of collaboration between Karen Jamieson and the community of Skidegate
Primary contact person, community liaison and consultant: Gladys Gladstone
Produced by: K’aadaas Gaah K’iiguwaay clan
Composer of new songs: Vern Williams
New masks creation (Raven, Pestilence, and Haidajaad) and talking stick: Clayton Gladstone
Ceremonial pieces and regalia: Victoria Moody
Flying canoe: Arthur Pearson
Raven costume: Donny Edenshaw
Haidajaad costume: Sue Gladstone
Performers: Hlgaagilda Dancers under the direction of Jenny Cross, Daniel Morgan, Mianne, Ava-Beth Williams, James Parker, Shyla Cross, Vanessa Engel, Kayla Pearson, Camisha Pearson, Denika Pollard, Dakota Edenshaw, Kena russ, Jayland Russ, Teresa Russ, Latasha Brlecic, Kelsey Pelton, Cassidy Yoemans, Dakota Cooper, Ashley Bruce, Jaylene Belis-Shelford, Allessandra Cross, Staasl Guujaaw, Niisii Guujaaw, Hailey Chapman, Meghan Williams, Angie Ridley, Pamela Edgars, Penney Hans, Cory Edenshaw, Tyrone Young, Kerri Wilson, Doreen Ridley, Sunne Young, Dana Watson
K’aadaas Gaah K’iiguwaay Clan matriarch dancers: Doris Daschuk, Beatrive Harley, Grace Jones, Heda Kelly, Eleanor Russ, Clara Zeller, Vi Husband, Thelma Shannon
Principal dancers: Donnie Edenshaw, Melanie Gladstone, Sue Gladstone, Vern Williams, supported by Ruth Gladstone
K’aadaas Gaah K’iiguwaay Clan dancers: Arthur Pearson, Denise Russ, Marg Parker, Grace Pelton, Wally Pelton, Robert Russ, Patty Kelly, Denice Husband, Cheryl Bell, Kelly Jones
Family dancers: Clayton Gladstone Sr., Ernie Gladstone Sr., Ernie Gladstone Jr., John Gladstone, Russell Gladstone
Speakers: Diane Brown, Gladys Gladstone, Arthur Pearson
Storyteller in Haida: SHIP Elder
Text: Amanda Reid Stevens
Translation of Haida stories and consultant: Gwaa Ganad, Diane Brown and the Elders of Skidegate Haida Immersion Program: Gaahlaay Watson Pryce, Niis We (Skil Kiixad) Ernie Wilson, GitKun John Wilson, NangKing.aay 7ildaagwaay Bea Harley, Gaaying.uuhlas Roy Jones, Yand K’aalaas Grace Jones, Taalgyaa7adad Betty Richardson, Gwaanjuu jaad Doreen Mearns, Jiixaa Gladys Vandal, Gaah Yah Norman Price, K’aang.wan jaad Virginia Wilson
Research and History: Chief Roy Jones Jr. Cheexial, Eleanor Russ, Billy Stevens, Irene Mills, Bev Collinson, Nika Collinson, Nellie Cross, Melanie Gladstone, Amanda Reid Stevens, Captain Gold
Videography: Tanya Collinson, Yun Lam Li
Projection: Yun Lam Li
Special thanks to: the Skidegate Band Council for the donation of the Hall; Gladys Galdstone, Jenny Cross, and the matriarchs of the clan, Guujaaw, for guiding dancers, leading singing and loan of Raven mask; SHIP for guidance and recording of the songs; Natalie McFarlane and the Haida Gwaii Museum
Acknowledgements from the program for the Percy Gladstone Memorial Dance, January 22, 2005
This piece documents the Percy Gladstone Memorial Dance performance in Skidegate, Haida Gwaii, 2004. Video credit: Tanya Rae Collinson. The Recollector. 2004-2005.
Clips from a performance of the Percy Gladstone Memorial Dance at the Museum of Anthropology, 2005. Videographer: D-Anne Trepanier.
Reviews
“The “Percy Gladstone Memorial Dance” took place in a beautiful, glass-enclosed hall at the Museum of Anthropology on the University of British Columbia campus, with admission free to museum-goers.
The hour-long presentation included traditional dances by a few of the Haida performers and sections of chanting, song and movement by the whole group. Jamieson herself made brief appearances in a long, rust-coloured gown, moving in a more modern dance tradition. She seemed to be giving a blessing to the event, gently curving her torso around, reaching out with soft hands and arms, sighing forward and back. She was quietly focussed, yet danced with more outwardly directed energy than the Haida performers. Everyone was quite solemn on opening night, and although later performances were reportedly more light-hearted, this was, after all, a memorial.
Some of the sense of solemnity had to do with the protocol involved. Before the processional entry, the 7:00pm opening show on July 12th began with speeches (as did subsequent ones, which were all matinees). One was by Larry Grant, an elder from the Musqueam Nation, who welcomed everyone to the museum, which is on traditional Musqueam territory. Another came from Gladys Gladstone, an elder from the Haida Nation and a relation of Percy Gladstone, who thanked the Musqueam for allowing us on their territory.
Unlike “Gawa Gyani”, which was a very athletic and formal work, in this piece, much of the movement consisted of processional steps. The participants danced for themselves, expressing their Haida culture rather than trying to project the formal values of theatrical performances. There was one gesture that I found out later did come from the collaborative process with Jamieson: the performers would reach out their arms as if gathering something from the air. A simple thing, the integration of this movement is important for the way it suggests that Haida dance is a living tradition, and not one closed off to new influences. Authentic change happens slowly, particularly for a people whose dance was once made illegal.
Despite the concentration on inward experience rather than outward form, there was some very expressive dance during the evening.
A version of “Percy Gladstone Memorial Dance” was performed in January 2005 at the annual dinner of the Raven Wolf clan of Tanu, to which the Gladstone family belongs. There were apparently sixty performers that night, as opposed to the twenty to twenty-five at the Museum of Anthropology (not everybody could make each performance). In Skidegate, the audience was present as part of the whole social event – participants and witnesses rather than spectators watching a theatrical performance. The two ways of presenting and experiencing “Percy Gladstone Memorial Dance” in Skidegate and Vancouver suggest fundamental cultural differences that projects such as this must navigate, and which contribute to broadening the understanding of the possibilities of dance in the world today.”
- Kaija Pepper
“A Ceremonial Event”
The Dance Current, July 12-16, 2005