“I Love the Moon, the Grass and the Stars” at Festa 2026

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I Love the Moon, the Grass and the Stars

May 19, 2026 at 4:00 pm COT (UTC-5)

Aanmitaagzi is excited to announce that Sid Bobb and Ouske Couchie-Bobb will be presenting a new work, I Love the Moon, the Grass and the Stars, as part of Festa 2026!

I Love the Moon, the Grass and the Stars is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary work inspired by CONVERSATIONS: Hidden Stories, which is also being presented at this year’s festival. The work moves between pow wow dance, storytelling, spoken word/poetry, and song. Sid Bobb (Sto:lo/People of the River) and Ouske Couchie-Bobb (Sto:lo/Nipissing Anishinaabe), father and son, will share the stories they carry and that a carry them: their regalia, dance, and traditional creation stories. They will share their relationship with CONVERSATIONS. Their dance gives thanks to the traditional lands they dance on, the breath of life, and expresses their commitment to women and the future.

Credits:

Performed by: Sid Bobb (Dancer/Storyteller) & Ouske Couchie-Bobb (Dancer/ Storyteller)

White Grass Dance Regalia: Ouske Couchie-Bobb (Designer), Tracey Larochelle (Textile Art), Penny Couchie (Textile Art), Phil Gray (Visual Art), Tom Barker (Dancing Stick)

Blue Grass Dance Regalia: Sid Bobb (Designer, Feather Fan, Textile Art), Penny Couchie (Assistant Designer & Textile Art), Tracey Larochelle (Textile Art), Beverley Myran (Beadwork), Samantha Mianskum (Beadwork), Tom Barker (Dancing Stick)

Men’s Traditional Regalia: Tracey Larochelle (Textile Art), Dan Commanda (Feather Fan, Bone Breastplate), Tim McGregor (Feather Bustle)

This work is presented with support from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Conversations at Festa 2026

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CONVERSATIONS: Hidden Stories

May 21, 2026 at 6:00 pm COT (UTC-5)

Aanmitaagzi Story Makers and Vanguardia Dance Projects are excited to present CONVERSATIONS: Hidden Stories as part of the Festival de Teatro Alternativo (Festa) taking place in Bogotá, Colombia from May 15 through May 23, 2026. Festa is a biennial festival of alternative theatre works that has been taking place in Bogotá since 1990. It is a platform for contemporary Colombian theatre that showcases multi-cultural works by regional and national groups alongside those by international companies.This year’s festival features over 85 performances across 25 venues including 80 theatre, dance, and performance art works.

CONVERSATIONS: Hidden Stories is a dialogue of bodies extended in various latitudes of the Americas. Starting from the investigation of “body and territory” by the Colombian-Canadian choreographer Olga Barrios, this work seeks a conversation between women through the Americas, seeking a South-North echo. Barrios’ research/creation explores the traces of Indigenous heritage that have been erased in her journey, as has happened with many people in various places in America and the planet. This work is based on the woman of many colours that she experiences in herself and with the many other voices in the world that seek connection with ideas of traces erased from history.

Production Credits

Director & Choreographer: Olga Barrios
Dancers & Text Creators: Norma Araiza, Olga Barrios, Penny Couchie, Animikiikwe Couchie-Waukey, Lilia León
Guest Dancer: Maria Lucia Llano
Composer & Sound Designer: Edgardo Moreno
Projection Artist: Alejandra Higuera and Olga Barrios
Stage Manager: Kelsey Ruhl
Costumes: Jennifer Kelly
Lighting Design: Trevor Schwellnus

Locations of work development: Big Medicine Studio (Nipissing First Nation), Arcadia Artists Co-op & National Ballet of Canada (Toronto)

This work is presented with support from the Canada Council for the Arts.

New Spring Workshop Series!

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Spring Workshop Series 2026

Aanmitaagzi is excited to announce a new series of workshops in April to get ready for this year’s pow wow season. The workshops will be led by Eva Couchie, who has decades of harvesting and making knowledge to share. We also have a lot of beautiful supplies, so come make with us!

15″ Hand Drum Making Workshop

Friday, April 10th or Saturday, April 11th
9:00am to 4:30pm
Cost: $200 including materials

Learn how to lace a hand drum using elk hides and hard wood frames. Materials will be provided.

Easy-Peasy Ribbon Skirts or Shirts

Friday, April 17th or Saturday, April 18th
9:00am to 4:30pm
Cost: $100 plus materials

Choose from various sizes, shapes and colours of pre-made skirts or shirts, or bring your own to work on. There will be an assortment of ribbon in different colours and widths, and satins in various colours for appliqué. There are sewing machines on site, but participants are free to bring their own.

 

Porcupine Quillwork on 4″ Birch Bark

Friday, April 24th or Saturday, April 25th
9:00am to 4:30pm
Cost: $125 including materials

Learn how to use traditionally harvested bark and quills to make medallions, basket tops, and accessories. Materials will be provided.

The workshops will take place at Big Medicine Studio, 161 Couchie Memorial Drive, North Bay, ON. There is a maximum of 10 spots for each workshop, so pay your registration fee early to save your seat! To register or for more information, please call or message Eva Couchie at (705) 237-8393 or ecouchie@gmail.com and include the day(s) you are available. The date for each workshop with most available participants will be the one chosen.

Niimi’iwe Dance Double Bill at Native Earth Performing Arts

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Aanmitaagzi is very excited to present Conversations: Hidden Stories with Vanguardia Dance Projects as part of the Niimi’iwe Dance Double Bill at Native Earth Performing Arts this week! The show will run from February 5 – 8, 2026 at Aki Studio in Toronto, and will be accompanied by a workshop led by Vanguardia’s Co-Artistic Director Norma Papalotl Araiza at 11:00 am on Saturday. The other half of the Double Bill is Spine of the Mother by Raven Spirit Dance, and you can find out more about both productions below.

CONVERSATIONS: HIDDEN STORIES

Conversations was inspired by the investigation of “body and territory” by the Colombian-Canadian choreographer Olga Barrios. This work springs forth from the women of many colours that she experiences in herself and the many other voices in the world that seek connection with ideas of traces erased from history. In 2023, under the direction of Olga, the artists of Vanguardia and Aanmitaagzi came together with the desire to share, investigate and explore the land, people, culture and stories we are connected to. Looking at stories of displacement and erasure, Conversations is a journey through what has separated us from ourselves and each other. Through soil, fabric, land and water, the work reaffirms a sovereign right to ancestral memory, connection and future.

Photo by Colin Boyd Shafer

CREDITS:

Creators: Norma Araiza, Penny Couchie, Animikiikwe Couchie, Lilia León, Olga Barrios
Dancers: Norma Araiza, Lilia León, Olga Barrios
Guest Dancers: Lucia Llano, Maria Riaño
Director & Choreographer: Olga Barrios
Composer and Sound Designer: Edgardo Moreno
Projection Designs: Alejandra Higuera and Olga Barrios
Visual Artist: Sherry Guppy, Alejandra Higuera
Costumes: Jennifer Kelly
Lighting Design: Trevor Schwellnus
Stage Manager: Kelsey Ruhl

SPINE OF THE MOTHER

Tracing the inner terrain of our bodies as women through breath, impulse and memory unlocks kinetic energy creating ritual, which spans the spine of the mountain range we have shared for millennia.

The metaphor of the “Spine of Mother Earth” is a name given by Indigenous Elders in South America to the Andean mountain range that spans from the base in Argentina, through the Americas and ends at the tip of Alaska. Our bodies become the landscape like the mountain ranges that connect the North and South (the Eagle and the Condor) and through this we find our kinetic connection to others that transmits impulse, breath and spirit.

Spine of the Mother began as an innovative collaboration with Indigenous artists in Canada and Peru and over the past decade has been performed across Canada and most recently internationally at the Kia Mau Festival in Wellington, New Zealand as part of Raven Spirit Dance’s 20th Anniversary tour.

Photo by Yasu Okada

CREDITS:

Choreography: Starr Muranko
In collaboration with and performed by Tasha Faye Evans * and Marisa Gold *
Past performers and artistic lineage: Andrea Patriau, Olivia Shaffer and Sarah Formosa
Produced by: Raven Spirit Dance
Original Sound composition by: Edgardo Moreno (‘Gracias a la Vida’ sung by Daniela Andrade)
Lighting Design: Jonathan Kim
Video/Media Design: Sammy Chien
Dramaturge and Mentor: Alvin Tolentio
Mentor: Michelle Olson
Cultural Advisor: Jhaimy Alvarez-Acosta (Peru)
Original Costume Design: Ines Ortner
Additional costume design + Additional Dramaturgy: Alejandro Ronceria

* The participation of this Artist (these Artists) is arranged by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the provisions of the Dance Opera Theatre Policy (DOT).

SHOWS:

Thursday, February 5th @ 7:30pm
Friday, February 6th @ 7:30pm
Saturday, February 7th @ 7:30pm
Sunday, February 8th @ 2:00pm

To buy tickets, please visit Native Earth’s website or click here.

2026 Winter Workshops

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Aanmitaagzi is back with more community-engaged workshops for the 2026 winter season! The workshops are part of our current project, All My R(el)ations. Through sharing knowledge, remembering together, and celebrating the old ways we build our community through art.

All My R(el)ations is a multi-disciplinary dance project of gathering, reflecting, and dreaming. This multi-year project researches, develops, and creates art in, and around, relationality and resource capacity. How do we relate to ourselves and each other in times of scarcity? What actions have fractured our relationship to ourselves, each other, and the land? What actions give life to healthy thriving communities? All My R(el)ations seeks to re-establish ways in which we work well together.

This series of workshops will run from January 12 – April 30, 2026. They are free to attend and no experience is necessary. All ages are welcome except where noted.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

MONDAY
Pow Wow Making & Jam Night with Darren Nakogee
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Pow wow singing and dancing for all abilities. Sing, dance, or work on your regalia projects. Join Darren Nakogee, Sid Bobb, and other artists as we celebrate together. This workshop is presented in partnership with Nipissing First Nation’s Walking Alongside Services.

Open Making Studio
6:00 – 8:00 pm
Weekly drop-in open studio making sessions. Bring your regalia, beadwork, knitting, painting, or other unfinished projects to work on, or start a new one!

WEDNESDAY
All Ages Multi-Arts with Sherry Guppy
3:30 – 5:30 pm  
A multi-arts drop-in class for artists of all ages. Materials will be provided, and activities will include painting, drawing, sewing, craft, and more!

Movement & Dance with Penny Couchie
6:30 – 8:00 pm
This dance class is aimed at exploring relationship to ourselves, each other, and our community. What are we moved by? How do we celebrate the diversity of our bodies and the multitude of ways we express ourselves?

THURSDAY
Elders’ Storytelling Luncheons
12:00 – 2:30 pm
This storytelling luncheon for elders is an opportunity to eat together and explore the care we had for one another: our families, community, and strangers. It is an opportunity to share stories of who we are in the face of adversity and who we hope to be. It is a call for a return to good relations with all.

If you’d like to find out more, please contact Sid or Penny at (705) 474-2227 or aanmitaagzi@gmail.com.