Sunday, November 30, 2025
2:00 PM | Suite 130
Voices of Aki Panel/Discussion
Moderated by Joelle Peters
Panelists: Kole Durnford, Ange Loft, and Cas Ward
RSVP Here
2:30 PM | Aki Studio
The Curse of Stolen Seeds by Jillian Morris
Conditions to Strike by Montana Summers
ʔa·kinq̓uku by Samantha Sutherland
Presentation
The Curse of the Stolen Seeds
by Jillian Morris
The Curse of Stolen Seeds is a dramatic theatre short set in 2004, inspired by the report of the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights - The Scars that We Carry: Forced and Coerced Sterilization of Persons in Canada - Part II, July 2022. It explores the complexity of the mother, adult daughter relationship. It is about deep wounds and shallow understandings, resented estrangement and unexpected returns. It is about forgiveness and peace seeking after the emergence from dark places brought about by colonization.
Creator: Jillian Morris (Kanien’kehaka and a band member of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory)
Mentor: Ange Loft
Performers: Celeste Sansregret, Richard Comeau, PJ Prudat
Other Showing: November 27
Jillian Morris, Creator
Jillian Morris is Kanien’kehaka and a band member of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, currently residing in Collingwood. She has a BA in Public Administration and Indigenous Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University. She spent 13 years as a federal public servant before moving into freelance & volunteer work related to the arts and storytelling.
Jillian recently wrapped up her term as Poet Laureate of the town of Collingwood. She has also established her presence in the community as a columnist, having published articles with Collingwood Today and other local publications. She writes works that contribute to fostering healthier relations among people and the natural world. She believes that art is an impactful medium to build bridges between cultures and worldviews.
Ange Loft, Mentor
ANGE LOFT (Kanien’kehá:ka, from Kahnawà:ke; lives in Toronto, ON, Canada) is an interdisciplinary performing artist, who works blend arts based research, voice, wearable sculpture, and Haudenosaunee history, guided by her background in community theatre, community art and Indigenous theatrical creation methodologies. In recognition of her craft, Ange received the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Indigenous Artist Award in 2023.
With Native Earth, her dramaturgy work at Weesageechak includes: As the Ice Floats By with Montana Adams and Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way by Vancouver Moving Theatre with Renae Morriseau. Ange’s recent roles include: Artistic Lead in the Co-creation of Stone and Bone Spectacular, as Indigenous Artist in Residence at Montreal’s Centaur Theatre (2022-24). Multi-disciplinary installation Visibly Iroquoian and Carrying our Bones, as the inaugural Indigenous Research Fellow at the Centre for Canadian Architecture (2023). Instructor in Story Creation with the Centre for Indigenous Theatre (2021-23). Artistic Lead of the Talking Treaties initiative with Jumblies Theatre + Arts (2017-24). Artist in Residence, University of Toronto OISEE and Jackman Humanities Institute (2021-22) and the Barker Fairley Distinguished Visitor at the University of Toronto’s University College (2023/24).
Presentation
Conditions to Strike
by Montana Summers
Conditions to Strike is a rendition of the Thunder Boy character from Onkwehón:we storytelling. Pulling from this character’s theme of being half human and half Thunder Being, Montana attempts to correlate the struggle of being caught in between the worlds of sky and earth to the struggle of modern queer identities being caught between masculine and feminine. He reinterprets the story by layering these two narratives of spiritual and queer identities together to tell an important lesson in multi-generational connections of love, protection, sacrifice and bringing needed balance to these dualities.
Creator: Montana Summers (Oneida Nation of the Thames)
Mentor: Santee Smith
Performers: Kali Bomberry, Katie Couchie, and Montana Summers
Other Showing: November 28
Montana Summers, Creator
Montana Summers, from the Oneida Nation of the Thames, is a dance artist and emerging choreographer. In 2022, he started his first performance project, "Conditions to Strike," and showcased developments at The Banff Centre, Royal Botanical Gardens, and Native Earth Performing Arts. He will further develop in the next few years for a full production. Since 2015, Montana has worked professionally in theatre, performing choreography by Santee Smith, the artistic director of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre. Notable performances include "The Honouring" (2015-2017), "The Mush Hole" (2016-2023), and "Sken:nen" (2021-2023). He has collaborated with performance collectives such as Dusk Dances ("Kan^stote" – 2021), Unsettled Score ("Canoe" – 2023), and Sweet Labour Art Collective (“Compost-Recomposing Relations”–2022, “Dancing with Billy” –2023, and “Becoming Garden”–2024). Stage credits include Backyard Theatre's "The Other Side of the River" (2019) and The Grand Theatre's "Love Song for the Thunderbirds" (2021) and choreographed for “The Secret to Good Tea” (2024).
Santee Smith, Mentor
Santee Smith, Tekaronhiáhkhwa, is a multidisciplinary artist from the Kahnyen’kehàka Nation, Ohswé:ken (Six Nations of the Grand River). A visionary in Indigenous performance, her transformative work masterfully bridges movement, storytelling, and design, forging deep mind-heart connections. Trained at Canada’s National Ballet School, with degrees in Physical Education, Psychology, and a master’s degree in dance, Santee blends ancient knowledge with new media to create impactful and immersive performances. As founder of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, she has created and produced 16 full-scale productions, numerous short works, and film/TV projects. Santee’s work explores themes of identity, humanity, and humanity’s responsibility to the natural world. Through her “Inviting the Land to Shape Us Series”, she advances land-based Indigenous performance research and fosters international collaborations and developing Indigenous dance artists. A Member of the Order of Canada and the 19th Chancellor of McMaster University, Santee continues to inspire as an artist and cultural leader.
Presentation
ʔa·kinq̓uku
by Samantha Sutherland
Fire ignites, grows, burns, and devours. Once it decays, what destruction does it leave behind? How does the earth regrow out of the ashes?
ʔa·kinq̓uku, the word for fire in the Ktunaxa Language, is a solo that follows the life cycle of a wildfire, and the regrowth that occurs after. This piece was created in reaction to the wildfire that burned through the Samantha’s home community of ʔaq̓am in the summer of 2023.
Creator: Samantha Sutherland (Ktunaxa)
Mentor: Christine Friday
Sound Composition: Edgardo Moreno
Costume: Cindy Sutherland
Videography: Jude Pierre
Created in the Pakitinam Choreographers Circle with Raven Spirit Dance
Other Showing: November 28
Samantha Sutherland, Creator
Samantha Sutherland is a contemporary dance artist, choreographer, and teacher based in Tkaronto. Her ancestry is Ktunaxa and Scottish. She grew up on Coast Salish territory and graduated from the Arts Umbrella Dance Diploma Program in 2018.
Samantha began choreographing dance solo works in 2021 and has presented in festivals across Turtle Island. Some include the Matriarchs Uprising Festival, Sharing the Stage with The National Ballet of Canada, Dance Made in Canada, SummerWorks, and Weesageechak Begins to Dance. Samantha premiered her first ensemble dance work naⱡa at Citadel Spring Mix in Toronto, and later presented the work in Vancouver at the Matriarchs Uprising Festival.
She has performed in dance works by Indigenous choreographers Santee Smith, Alejandro Ronceria, and Jera Wolfe. She is currently on faculty at The Centre for Indigenous Theatre, and an Artistic Associate with O.Dela Arts.
Christine Friday, Mentor