The Don Ross Centre was the scene this week for "Shared History to Shared Hope," hosted by Living Sky School Division in partnership with Dance Saskatchewan, Allen Sapp Gallery, Elder and Sunchild Law. It started at 1 p.m. Monday and continued for the rest of the week, concluding Thursday.
Grade 5 to 12 students from across Living Sky School Division participated in workshop with dancers and artists from the performance, Silent Survivors.
Choreographed and written by Lorin Gardypie, and presented by Dance Saskatchewan Inc., the topic of the performance was the residential school era. According to a Living Sky news release, "organizers have chosen to use the arts, specifically dance, music and traditional artistic expressions, to discuss these difficult topics in a way that invites everyone to understand, and move forward towards a shared future."
There were elder teachings on each of the four days as well as workshops on topics such as hip hop with Mike Mirlin, drumming with Rylan Smallchild and drummers, and hoop dancing with Lawrence Roy.
One particular highlight was a massive round dance Wednesday afternoon attended by 400 students. In all over 1,100 people attended over the four days with students attending from schools across the region.
