You’re invited into our vision of the future. The world has been transformed through fire, revived through water, and humankind has been gifted the ability to experience Life through the Lessons of the Heart.

Maamawi (ᒫᒪᐏ): Together Through The Fire braids the dreams of past, present, and future into a post-apocalyptic landscape. An expression of the Anishinaabe Seven Fire Prophecies, as shared by Anishinaabe Elder, Gloria May Eshkibok, Maamawi (ᒫᒪᐏ) imbues us with heart-light, stewarded by the Original Ones. We are held in trust with Love and Respect for all that is, all that was, and all that will be as we move steadily toward our destiny.

Creative Details and VR Experience:

Maamawi: Together Through The Fire is an original choreography by Anishinaabe choreographer Olivia C. Davies, with visual designs by Anishinaabe artist, Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley based on stories shared by Anishnaabe Elder, Gloria May Eshkibok of the Seven Fire Prophecies and utilizing the concept of the “Mino Bimaadziwin” pillars of Anishnaabe culture (Anishnaabemowin; translated as The Good Life) as dramaturgy. Co-creative director and creative technologist, Athomas Goldberg, brings several years of experience in the creation of hybrid live/virtual performances through his work as a co-founder of both Pepper’s Ghost New Media & Performing Arts Collective, and Shocap Entertainment, and as a consultant to the interactive entertainment and virtual reality industries through his company, Lifelike & Believable Animation Design. Athomas and Olivia have worked together previously on the piece, “Stealing Flowers” which introduced Davies to digital technologies and integrating a 360-degree approach into her theatrical practice. The piece will feature an original score by Canadian composer, Michael Red. Red previously collaborated with Davies on Gateways and Crow’s Nest. 

Maamawi: Together Through The Fire is a full-length Contemporary Indigenous dance performance and immersive experience for live audiences to enter into a fictional, futuristic world following the revelation of the Anishinaabe Seven Fire Prophecies. Using real-time motion-capture techniques, the movements of the dancers will be accurately captured in real-time and used to drive animated avatars and visual imagery conceived of and designed by Anishinaabe artist, Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, which will then be projection-mapped onto surfaces behind and around the performers, while simultaneously filling the 3D space of an online immersive multiplayer virtual reality environment that remote audiences can connect to and enter from around the world.

During the presentation of Maamawi: Together Through The Fire, 8 members of the audience will be pre-selected to view the performance from within the virtual story world using wireless virtual reality headsets in a dedicated area of the theatre. This will enable them to freely move around within the space.  Their motion will contribute to the visual landscape displayed in the on-stage projections and enable them to interact with the dancers within the virtual reality environment at key moments during the performance acting as a virtual bridge between the dancers and the online virtual audience from across the globe, bringing them all together to a share a single ephemeral moment in time as one, in the presence of a common and conflicted history and the pursuit of lasting reconciliation.

Maamawi: Together Through The Fire is a cross-cultural collaboration between Indigenous artists and non-Indigenous allies, providing important work to come to new understandings, using new technologies to tell old stories to a broad, cross-cultural audience. The medium of dance enables us to tell those stories in non-literal ways accentuated by visual and sonic designs.

2023 World Premiere @ Matriarchs Uprising Festival production credits:

producers O.Dela Arts & Pepper’s Ghost New Media Collective

co-creator, choreographer Olivia C. Davies

co-creator; MoCap, VR, AR experience Athomas Goldberg

co-creator, visual design Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley

co-creator, composer Michael Red

cultural consultant Gloria May Eshkibok

dance artists Sophie DowDaisy Thompson

lighting designer; projection, audiovisual playback system support Chimerik 似不像: Shang-Han Chien & Sammy Chien

lighting designer, technical director Jonathan Kim

assistant lighting designer Vanka Salim

costume designer Raven John

rehearsal director Kelly McInnes

stage manager Kayleigh Sandomirski

producer Brian Postalian