An uplifting work

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This article was published 26/09/2024 (375 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two weeks ago, choreographer Cameron Fraser-Monroe, a member of the Tla’amin First Nation on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast, was back home, presenting work for the elders in his community.

This week he’ll be premièring a new work on the international stage in New York City with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

“To be able to do both is really meaningful and really, I think, encapsulates what I want my work to be,” says Fraser-Monroe, himself an RWB School alumnus.

Today and Friday, the RWB will present the world première of Fraser-Monroe’s šɛgatəm (pronounced shAY-ga-tum) at New York City Center’s premier, invitation-only Fall for Dance Festival.

Seven RWB company dancers will be performing the 15-minute work, a co-commission with the Bard College Center for Indigenous Studies.

It’s an auspicious event for the RWB as well; the company hasn’t performed in NYC since 1979.

Šɛgatəm — meaning “to lift someone up” in Ayajuthem, the language of the Tla’amin Nation — is about a leader who learns about the importance of community support. Fraser-Monroe was inspired by the elders in his community, including knowledge keeper and residential school survivor Elsie Paul, who is still chopping her own wood at 94.

“I think that the key, there, is asking for help with the small things before they become big things,” he says.

As in all of his work, Fraser-Monroe’s choreography is a reflection of his upbringing.

“That includes grass dance and hoop dance, as well as Coast Salish styles of dance, along with my classical ballet training here at the RWB and my time as a professional contemporary dancer,” he says. “All of those aspects of my identity find their way into that movement vocabulary. It’s something I’ve been working on for a number of pieces now, and I think it shines brighter than ever in this one.”

Fraser-Monroe was also influenced by “the beautiful lyrical work” of tenor-composer Jeremy Dutcher, a member of the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, who provided the music for šɛgatəm. Earlier this month, Dutcher won the Polaris Music Prize — the annual jury-voted award for best Canadian album, regardless of genre — for the second time, the first artist in history to do so.

“That really is a testament to his music and how well loved it is,” Fraser-Monroe says. “It’s great he’s coming with us in musical form. I wish he could be there in person.”

Usually, it takes years to create a new ballet; Fraser-Monroe had a matter of months, and three weeks in the studio with the dancers.

That there are seven of them also has significance.

“It’s referencing the seven generations (principle) that is often quoted in our traditional teachings as the people that you need to consider in your decisions, in planning now and for the future,” he says. “So, seven generations in the future.”

This is actually the second world première this year for Fraser-Monroe, who served as the RWB’s choreographer-in-residence for the 2023/24 season.

In April, the RWB closed its season with the world première of T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods, a groundbreaking evening-length ballet based on the oral history of elder Paul, who also provided audio narration in Ayajuthem and English.

The premiere of šɛgatəm at Fall for Dance — where the RWB will be joined by companies such as Boston Ballet, the Dutch National Ballet and the New York City Ballet — is another highlight in a year full of them.

“I’m just feeling really excited that the work that I’ve been doing here in Winnipeg is getting noticed further afield and even internationally,” he says.

“Aside from premièring my own work, I’m also very excited to be seeing all of these other world-class companies.”

jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com