Preparing Ground for the Future

Fall time is when the old people said the world began. It is the time of our traditional Cherokee new year. As this year comes to an end, I have hopes, plans and dreams for Ahwisgvsgo'i.

I have just applied for the Guggenheim Fellowship with the intention of developing this project. Whether or not I get it, this is the direction I hope to follow:

As a Cherokee, I come from a traditionally agriculturally based people. Our ceremonial calendar is intertwined with the planting season. I also believe that our societal well-being is intertwined with the cultivation and consumption of our traditional foods. The idea for Ahwisgvsgo'i came from a desire to create dance about family and tribal stories of how to work with the land. I also wanted to collaborate with other Indigenous artists and communities to celebrate our agricultural traditions through art. In the spring of 2014, I started conceptualizing components and outlining the phases of Ahwisgvsgo'i. I plan to use the Guggenheim fellowship to expand upon existing work and move forward with the last of the two phases of the project. The three phases are:

            Phase I - To create choreography, poems, narratives and designs about Indigenous 
            planting traditions, our places in the world, the elements and how we all interact as 
            part of the growing cycle. To collaborate with a composer to create an original score.

            Phase II - To work collaboratively with a costume designer, dancers, a dramaturge and 
            a set designer to flesh out all completed components and create new sections.

            Phase III - To share Ahwisgvsgo’i with communities in a way that incorporates their  
            voices into the creation process and their stories into the performance.

At present, Phase I of the project is completed and Ahwisgvsgo'i consists of three dances, four poems, two music scores, three spoken word narratives and seven design patterns. I have been able to workshop the piece via a series of community master classes, in both the United States and Canada. I premiered the completed sections of Ahwisgvsgo'i in February, 2015 in Vancouver , British Columbia. I also presented one of the dances in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July, 2015 and have upcoming performances scheduled in Toronto, Ontario in November, 2015 and in Edmonton, Alberta in February, 2016.

The goal of Phase II is to collectively explore Ahwisgvsgo’i themes with other Indigenous artists. We will work collaboratively, using the Phase I source material and one another’s interpretations to envision new responses, to re-interpret and to co-create. I have already identified a group of artists and we have had preliminary conversations about the themes and directions to expand upon.

The goal of Phase III is to is ensure that Ahwisgvsgo’i is accessible to Native people and relevant to any communities where it is being presented. While the collaborating artists and myself will create the framework for Ahwisgvsgo'i (set choreography, visual aspects, pre-recorded sounds, etc) , each iteration of the project will be different due to the varying degrees of input and involvement from the host community. The framework, or core elements of the project will be available for presentation at more formal venues (theaters, galleries, school presentations, etc.) However Ahwisgvsgo'i will also exist as a traveling community project that will vary in length depending on the host community’s requirements . The established project framework will incorporate new elements co-created by the community, resulting in a product that will reflect the identities of those who shared.

Through the space for investigation provided by the Guggenheim fellowship I will develop Ahwisgvsgo’i into a veritable field of human movement, sharing multiple stories of our places, planting and growing.