Pole-to-Pole: Dancing With the Land

Déborah Maia de Lima

Indigenous dances are moments of encounter, of sharing, of paying homage to ancestors, of transmitting/transferring knowledge, of affirming the Indigenous presence on the land and of expressing their strong relationship with the environment.

This exhibition presents the project Dancing with the Land: “Pole-to-Pole” Connections Involving Indigenous Dance, Body/Land and Intergeneration in the Americas, a collaborative study taking a trans-American approach which involves Indigenous peoples from the Global South and the Global North encompassing Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. This intercultural dialogue highlights transnational perspectives on land, body, and dance in Indigenous contexts. Pole-to-Pole focuses on the understanding of the notion of territory adopted by Indigenous peoples. It also aims to understand the perception of how violence against their lands affects their bodies and their dances, the effect of Indigenous dances on Indigenous individuals and communities, as well as the intergenerational relations of the body/land connection.

Connecting Land and Dance Across the Americas

Tuxpan, Mexico

Ranqueles, Argentina

Brasil

Montréal, Canada

Dancing the land, dancing the body

Indigenous voices from Brazil, Mexico, Canada and Argentina, shared through photovoice, on how land and dance connect.

Tuxpan, Mexico

Náhuatl descendants of the Aztecs, living on the slopes of the Xiuhtepetl and Tletcaxilt volcanoes, show how their dances connect them to their territory..

Ranqueles, Argentina

The Ranquel people, whose name means “The People of the Cane,” show how their territory is perceived through their bodies, origins and ancestors.

Brasil

Pataxó, Fulni-ô, Guajajara and Ticuna dancers, living in Brasília and the Atlantic Rainforest, express the link between their dances and their land.

Montréal, Canada

Mi’kmaq, Mohawk, Atikamekw and Malécite dancers show how their territories relate to their bodies, their ancestors and their current history.

Throughout history, the bodies of Indigenous peoples have been subjugated alongside the colonization of their land. In Indigenous cultures, dance is not just entertainment or aesthetic expression, but a source of transmitting history, cosmogony,and spirituality.