Nuu-chah-nulth youth The’e Wind Dancer is now free to dance as often as she wants in the city of Toronto. Wind Dancer was awarded the Renee Highway Memorial Dance scholarship by the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (CCDT) after she was discovered by them last March.
Wind Dancer, the daughter of prominent textile artist and Nu-chah-nulth-aht J’Net Ayay Qwa Yak Sheelth, had been sitting with her mother having dinner when she received the call notifying her of her award.
“I was really surprised and overjoyed and speechless, and I didn’t know what to do…” she said of her feelings after hearing the news. “It means I can take as many classes as I want that are for my age, and that are available to me… for as long as I want to,” she said.
Wind Dancer had just finished a dance camp with the Kahawi Dance Company at the time. She had attended the camp previously, but had no idea the Renee Highway Scholarship was going to be a possibility for her there this time. Now mid-way through her first full season at CCDT, she trains twice a week, choosing modern and jazz style classes over all others.
“I’m not sure why they chose me… I wasn’t expecting them to, because I didn’t know it was a thing… Maybe it’s because I was the tallest?” She said, with a slight laugh.
The young performer, now 14, was 10-years-old when she started her artistic journey, beginning with Kahawi March Break dance camps, but says she has always been drawn to dancing, so would dance just on her own at home or at school.
“It’s a way of expression. If I feel any emotion, like anger, happiness, sadness… I can express it through movement, and it’s just a great way to get whatever is inside, out. I’ve been dancing in classes not that long, but for fun, like my whole life,” she said.
Michael deConink Smith is one of the founders of CCDT. He spotted The’e while sitting in a final performance put on by the attendees of the Kahawi March Break camp. DeConink Smith was immediately struck, not only by her skill level, he said, but by how attentive she was to the youngsters in the class.
“As soon as I saw even just them getting organized, The’e popped out at me. She was kind of the mother character. Even though she was only about 13 or so, she was taking care of the younger ones, and this followed into the movement,” he said.
And because deConink Smith was involved with CCDT when the Renee Highway Memorial Scholarship was created, he is able to choose the candidates who truly represent what the company is looking for with it.
“He (Highway) was a magnetic performer. Very soft spoken in a beautiful Cree accent… and quite memorable. At one point my co-director here thought “Wouldn’t it be great to do a work involving Renee?” said deConink Smith.
CCDT then constructed a performance, casting Highway as a shaman character. In the piece, Highway acted as a mentor, and a gateway for the other characters to find parts of themselves, which included spirit animals, which represented their true natures.
“When Renee became ill in the late 80s and passed away, we thought it would be very good to create a memorial for him that involved providing a scholarship for a young dancer,” said deConink Smith, adding that the downside is because the award is based on donations received by CCDT, it isn’t always available.
Santee Smith manages the Kahawi Dance Company and the March Break camp. She was the last step to making it happen for The’e. DeConink Smith approached Santee, and some of the other teachers from Kahawi, and all agreed that The’e was the student who showed the most potential for a real future in dance.
“It was clear she was dedicated and that was her passion. I know The’e is very interested in dance and performance, and with this scholarship she is able to have high quality training. It’s a great opportunity for her to be able to explore and train her body and to be surrounded by other young artists and dancers who are working towards possible careers in dance,” Santee said.
As for Wind Dancer, she is choosing to stay humble. While she is excited for her new venture into professional dance, she wants to maintain her sense of joy while doing it. Her long-term goals may include dancing with the “world-class” CCDT dance group, and possibly dancing alongside Santee someday—one of her idols, she said—but so far, no plans have been finalized.
“My goals in where I want to be change from day to day. It can go from “I want to be in music roles, or I want to be a professional dancer, or I want to go here or there when I grow up… I just want to dance, and if people think I’m good, that’s great, but I do it mainly because it’s fun,” said Wind Dancer.
Donations can be made to both CCDT and Kahawi through these websites http://www.ccdt.org/ and http://kahawidance.org/
