The Mush Hole

The Mush Hole
Truth, Acknowledgement, Resilience

Creative Producer/Director/Performer:
Santee Smith

Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts
Kiplinger Theatre
430 College Avenue
October 28, 7:30 p.m.

The Mohawk Institute a.k.a. The Mush Hole
The Mohawk Institute is the oldest residential school in Canada, after which all others were modelled. Operated in Brantford, Ontario from 1828 to 1970, it served as an Industrial boarding school for First Nations children from Six Nations, as well as other communities throughout Ontario and Quebec. For 142 years, the MO of the school was to forcefully assimilate children into Euro-Christian society and sever the continuity of culture from parent to child. Canada’s first prime minister John A. MacDonald and super intendant Duncan Campbell Scott were the main perpetrators of residential school system, quoting Scott, schools were designed “to get rid of the Indian problem”. Run in military style, children learned very little in the way of schooling rather serving as labourers. They experienced a range of abuses from sexual, food deprivation experiments and corporeal punishment at the hands of faculty and staff.

John A. MacDonald, 1883 - Prime Minister of Canada
“When the school is on the reserve, the child lives with its parents, who are savages, and though he may learn to read and write, his habits and training mode of thought are Indian. He is simply a savage who can read and write. It has been strongly impressed upon myself, as head of the Department, that Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men."

After closing in 1970, it reopened in 1972 as the Woodland Cultural Centre. In 2013, results of a Six Nations of the Grand River community referendum, 98% voted in favour of restoring the residential school as opposed to its demolition. The reasons for restoration of the site included: to transform it into an educational site, to continue to expose and reflect on the truths of the Canadian Government/Church assimilation policies, to remember and support Survivors and their legacies, to uphold the spirit of children that "served time" in the schools to heal. In 2014, the Mohawk Institute "Save the Evidence" campaign began and continues until the building is restored. The Mush Hole performance is also an effort in commemorating and healing through the sharing of truth.

The Mush Hole was created in connection with Survivors, their writings, interviews, and the Survivor Series Talks at the Woodland Cultural Centre. Creation began within the building and on the grounds of the Mohawk Institute. Survivors had a chance to witness and offer feedback to the performance along the way such as Roberta Hill. She said, “The Mush Hole performance brought back memories and was very validating emotionally. I was able to relate to the chaos and turmoil in a relationship that was so like my own. I lived that life I was seeing on stage. The impacts of residential school are deep and left me with emotional and psychological scars.”

Incorporating the bricks and mortar, the grounds of the Mohawk Institute, The Mush Hole travels into the environment and specific rooms where experiences took place. The Boy’s Playroom is represented, it once a small jail cell and had zero toys. It was a basement room where boys were made to fight and where they hugged the hot water pipes for warmth and stared out the window down the long driveway in wait of parents and family that might take them home or not. Hardly a room, under the staircase cubby hole was the solitary confinement. The loudness of the boiler room concealed children’s cries from abuse, sexual assaults there were perpetrated mostly on the boys. The laundry room where the girls toiled was also a loud room which hide abuse. The visitation room where parents had supervised visits, so stress ridden that time was spent crying, and where family gifts and packages were taken away. The school was child labour camp with prison mentality, devoid of positive and nurturing touch.

Two generations of Survivors are represented, demonstrating the intergenerational effects, and the long history of Canada’s Indian Residential School legacy. Survivors speak about their inability to show and receive love, struggle with addictions and PTSD fallouts. Stripped of their humanity, students were identified only by their institutional #’s and not their names. Survivor brick scratching’s, children’s hidden chalk and pencil scribbles are still present at the Mohawk Institute. The Mush Hole characters are as follows:
 - #48 / Ernest: a son, father, husband
 - #29 / Mabel: a daughter, mother, wife
Ernest and Mabel met at residential school and had family, a son, and a daughter.
 - #34 / Walter: a son, brother, student
 - #17 / Grace: a daughter, sister, student
 - #11: the one who got away - A girl with no name or family, the runaway

The scenes are titled: Under Lock & Key, T’will be Glory, Smashing Brick Crosses, What’s Your Name? Roll Call, Serving Time, Labour Camp, Running the Gauntlet, I’m so Lonely I Could Cry, The Boiler Man, I Saw the Light, Solitary Confinement, Just A Closer Walk With Thee, The One That Got Away, Remembrance, Find My Way and We Are In This Together. Scenes depict Survivor experience’s in specific locations. Site becomes an important concept in The Mush Hole, as it reflects the fact that the schools were also designed to remove Indigenous people more easily from their land and their sites.

The Mush Hole is the nickname Survivors and Six Nations community gave to the school since mush was the staple food. Servings of mush were often 3 times a day and wormy. Withholding of food and hunger was an across-the-board ingredient to the Indian Residential School experience. Children were not nourished physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

The appearance of apples in The Mush Hole performance is significant. Being surrounded by an apple orchard, the starved and growing children were strictly forbidden to eat the apples and were severely punished if they picked any for themselves. Corporal punishment of strappings most often escalated into beatings, on the body’s most sensitive parts. If students showed strengthen by not crying or reacting, the beating intensifies in effect of breaking them down.

Initiation into the school was done through violence. To fight and harden the spirit was a part of the school life for both boys and girls. The scene, “Serving time” the performance reflects the way Survivor’s qualify their time at the school, as paralleled to a prison experience. It’s not a stretch to know that many Indian Residential School Survivors later found comfort and security from within the prison system. This also reflects the disproportionate numbers of Indigenous people in prison today.

Background on The Mush Hole creation

Santee Smith began the initial concept during the University of Waterloo’s Mush Hole Project 2016. Her vision for The Mush Hole began as a short performance installation created inside the Boy’s Playroom. In January 2017, the Woodland Cultural Centre offered a creation residency. In February 2017, The Mush Hole closed the Art Gallery of Guelph’s Exhibition 150 Acts: Art, Activism, Impact. In August 2018, The Mush Hole received a production residency at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity. The premiere was supported by the Prismatic Arts Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Mush Hole was selected as a featured presentation at the Socrates Project McMaster University.

Duncan Campbell Scott, 1920 - Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs from 1913 until 1932, “I want to get rid of the Indian problem...our objective is to continue until there is not an Indian that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department…”

Shé:kon-sewakwékon. Greetings Everyone.

Kaha:wi Dance Theatre is grateful to be performing The Mush Hole in the ancestral lands and waters of the Gayogo̱ hó꞉nǫ’ (Cayuga Nation). We are humbled to share our creativity and embodied telling on the lands of our Onkwehón:we family and kin.

We honour and acknowledge the waters and lands on which Cornell University thrives today.

Nia:wen to the Survivors of the Mohawk Institute Residential School for sharing their truth and resilience with us in the creation of this performance. We also acknowledge the Survivors of the Thomas Indian School and the lingering impacts of the school on the Onkwehon:we community throughout New York state. Sharing the truths of forced assimilation perpetrated by State and Church is a step towards healing and building skén:nen / peace.

“The Mush Hole reflects the realities of the Mohawk Institute residential school experience and offers a way to open dialogue and to heal, through acknowledgement and honouring the spirit of Survivors and families that were impacted. The Mush Hole moves through the devastation of residential school with grace and hope for transformation and release. Opening a small window into the atrocities inflicted on 1000’s of Indigenous children, it attempts to close the door on historical amnesia. A haunting portrayal, weaves through memories of Survivors, reliving traumas, school life, loss of culture, remembrance, returning to find each other. The residential school legacy and ongoing institutionalized erasure of Indigenous lives and culture is an issue that effects all Canadians. Through specificity we find universality, The Mush Holeis a story about hope and finding light in dark places. As much as it speaks to intergenerational trauma it screams resilience. Every single element that is represented on stage came from Survivors sharing their experiences with us. After years of silence Mohawk Institute Survivors are courageously moving past shame and sharing their story. The Mush Hole is their Truth on stage.”

- Santee Smith

Kaha:wi Dance Theatre is an Onkwehon:we organization and one of Turtle Islands’ foremost performing arts companies, acclaimed nationally and around the globe for exquisitely produced, powerful, poetic and resonant performances. Founded by Six Nations based Artistic Director Santee Smith, Kaha:wi (Ga-HA-Wee) means “to carry” in Kahnyen’kehàka (Mohawk). Exploring the intersection of Indigenous and new performance through resurgent process and practice KDT’s works are interdisciplinary, multi-voiced, intergenerational, and inter-cultural. Drawing inspiration from research and collaboration, performances question, re-story and transform while adhering to Indigenous process, connection to land, story and spirit of place. KDT is Indigenous presence, voice, and narrative. The company promotes Indigenous visibility and representation by creating opportunities and space for Indigenous audiences to witness themselves, their story’s, body, and voice. We create opportunities and space for non-Indigenous audiences to witness performance that is not created from western-euro paradigms, and open counter-narratives to status quo canon. KDT questions the manner and point of reference from which we view, create, and talk about art and artmaking.

www.kahawidance.org
@kahawidance

SANTEE SMITH (TEKARONHIAHKWA) - Performing as #29 / Mabel

Santee is a multidisciplinary artist from the Kahnyen’kehàka Nation, Turtle Clan, Six Nations of the Grand River, Haldimand Treaty Territory. As a creative she is dedicated to cultivating space for embodied storytelling, collaboration, exchange through performance and cultural talks, work with land and earth/clay. In 2005 she founded Kaha:wi Dance Theatre and also works as a independent artist on projects such as The Mush Hole, and Talking Earth installation at the Gardiner Museum. Her practice is process and for her the process is full bodied, ceremonial in intent and crafted through research with knowledge keepers and sites/land. Smith trained at Canada’s National Ballet School, completed Physical Education and Psychology degrees from McMaster University and a M.A. in Dance from York University. Santee premiered her debut work Kaha:wi - a family creation story, in 2004 and one year later founded Kaha:wi Dance Theatre which has grown into an internationally renowned company. Santee’s artistic work speaks about identity and Indigenous narratives. Her body of work includes 17 productions and numerous short works which tour nationally and internationally. In 2020, The Mush Hole production received 5 Dora Mavor Moore awards. Santee is a sought-after teacher and speaker on the performing arts and Indigenous performance and culture. Her life and works have been the topic of TV series and films and most recently on CBC, APTN. Santee is the 19th Chancellor of McMaster University.

JONATHAN (FISHER) ODJIG – Performing as #47 / Ernest

Jonathan is Anishinaabe from the Wikwemikong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Selected credits include: Almighty Voice & His Wife (Native Earth Performing Arts), Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing (Red Roots Theatre), fareWel (Prairie Theatre Exchange), A Trickster's Tale (Theatre Direct), New France (Video Cabaret), Raven Stole the Sun (Red Sky Performance), Copper Thunderbird (National Arts Centre), Stretching Hide (Theatre Projects Manitoba), Tales of an Urban lndian (Talk Is Free Theatre), 400 Kilometers (Lighthouse Theatre), Medicine Boy (Anishnabe Theatre Performance), Night (Human Cargo), The Hours That Remain (Magnus Theatre), Elle (Theatre Passe Muraille), The Berlin Blues and Ipperwash (Blyth Festival), Reckoning (Article 11), Home Is A Beautiful Word (SUM Theatre), Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way (Vancouver Moving Theatre Company) and This Is How We Got Here (Native Earth/Shaw Festival). Jonathan has performed and toured The Mush Hole by Santee Smith (Kaha:wi Dance Theatre) since 2018.

RAELYN METCALFE - Performing as #17 / Grace

Raised in Vancouver and based in Toronto, Raelyn is from Plains Cree descent from Saskatchewan. She is a graduate of The Conteur Dance Academy. Her love of performing began with ballet and transitioned her into other styles, including musical theatre. She has trained with The Richmond Academy of Dance, MOVE: the company, and The Conteur Academy. In 2015, Raelyn had the pleasure of working with Conteur Dance Company, a preview development show under the direction of artistic director Eryn Waltman. Raelyn has also worked with Aria Evans who is the artistic director of Political Movement. In 2017 Raelyn performed Aria’s work Voice of A Nation, commissioned by the Toronto Concert Orchestra. Revisiting her identity and background, Raelyn had the opportunity performing as a dancer at the 2018 Indspire Awards along with Santee Smith, the founding artistic director of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre. Following her passion of performing both on stage and on film, Raelyn is a dedicated dance artist who wishes to continue her inspiration for others.

MONTANA SUMMERS - Performing as #34 / Walter, a.k.a. Wall Eye

Montana Summers is from the Oneida First Nation of the Thames. Montana began training and exploring Indigenous and contemporary dance when he was accepted into the Indigenous Dance Residency (2015) and Kaha:wi Dance Theatre’s Summer Intensive (2016). Montana has worked and toured Kaha:wi Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director Santee Smith in productions since 2016, including The Honouring (2015-17), Medicine Bear (2016-18), and The Mush Hole (2016- 22), and Smith’s works: I Lost My Talk – National Arts Centre Orchestra multi-media; Wakentos - Dreamcatcher Gala Awards, Indspire Awards 2018, and the North American Indigenous Games Opening Ceremony - Toronto. Additionally, Montana joined Backyard Theatre for his first acting performance in The Other Side of the River (2019) and later would pick up the role of Thunderbird for Love Song for the Thunderbirds, presented at the Grand Theatre (2021). Montana now focuses on expanding his work, Conditions to Strike, and continues collaborating with colleagues and collectives for multiple projects. Montana hopes to take what he has learned in the performing arts back to his home community to inspire youth.

KATIE COUCHIE - Performing as The One Who Got Away / #11

Katie Couchie is an Oji-Cree dance artist originally from Nipissing First Nation, now based in Tkaronto. Katie is an honours graduate of the Dance Performance Program at George Brown College. During her time at GBC, Katie worked with many renowned choreographers and teachers, such as Susie Burpee, Hanna Kiel, Bengt Jörgen, Anisa Tejpar, Ryan Lee, Tina Fushell, and Sharon Moore. Since graduating from college in 2020, Katie has worked with Peggy Baker, Santee Smith (Kaha:wi Dance Theatre), Christine Friday, Jera Wolfe, Alejandro Ronceria, Hanna Kiel (Human Body Expressions), and Red Sky Performance. Katie was also a part of Theatre Oculus’ 2021 Digital Toronto Fringe Show and was a part of a digital residency with the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity led by Christopher House.

 

JESSE ZUBOT - Composition/Arrangement

Jesse is one of those unique composers/producers whose praxis spans multiple genres and transcends contextualization. Known mainly as a violinist, he is also a multi-instrumentalist and tends to incorporate electronic manipulation and studio gadgetry within his work. Jesse is a 3-time Juno Award winning musician with his own projects and has become an in-demand producer having produced the Polaris Music Prize album 'ANIMISM' and the recent Polaris Music Prize Shortlisted album ‘RETRIBUTION’ by Tanya Tagaq. The Tagaq album, ‘ANIMISM’ garnered Zubot the award for 'Producer of the Year' at 2015’s Western Canadian Music Awards and a nomination for 'Producer of the Year' at the 2015's Juno Awards. Zubot delves heavily into the world of film scoring completing the score to the acclaimed Canadian film, Indian Horse based on the novel by the late Richard Wagamese. He was nominated for a 2018 Leo Award for ‘Best Musical Score in a Motion Picture for Indian Horse. His recent score is for Marie Clement’s film Bone of Crows. He has been commissioned by CBC to write symphonies and arrangements for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Nova Scotia. Jesse has done work in the world of dance with choreographers such as Benoit Lachambre, Su-Feh Lee and Santee Smith.

 

ADRIAN DION HARJO - Music Composition

Adrian is a multi-award winning “Jack of all Trades” when it comes to performing arts. He started singing Powwow style at 7, Fancy Dancing at 10, and then began Hoop Dancing at 12 years of age. Adrian now owns his own production company, OvenBakedBeatz LLC where he produces music for TV, Radio, and Live Theatre. Adrian stands evenly in both worlds of Traditional Culture and Modern Music with credits including a NAMMY (Native American Music Award), Canadian Aboriginal Music Award, Grammy (2001) and RIAA GOLD Certification. He has created compositions for Kaha:wi Dance Theatre’s TransMigration, The Honouring and NeoIndigenA.

 

ANDY MORO - Set / Original Lighting Designer

Andy is a mixed Euro/Omushkego Cree multi-disciplinary artist. His work includes performance installation, set, projection lighting and audio design with companies across the country. He is a cofounder/director with Tara Beagan of ARTICLE 11, named for the article in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, stating: Indigenous peoples have the right to practice and revitalize, maintain, protect, and develop past, present, and future manifestations of their cultures, such as historical sites, artefacts, designs, ceremonies, technologies and visual and performing arts and literature. ARTICLE 11 is currently touring Reckoning – a triptych tackling the fallout from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Their installation DECLARATION has been featured at the Royal Ontario Museum, the National Arts Centre and Calgary City Hall and DECLARATION: ReMatriation - an international Indigenous collaboration at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

 

SEBASTIAN MARZIALI - Tour Production Manager / Tour Lighting Designer

Sebastian Marziali (they/their) is a Uruguayan Canadian performer, designer, and creator based in T’karonto (Toronto). A desire to continually evolve and widen the breadth of their practice has seen Sebastian work with and learn from master’s from across the Americas such as Grupo Yuyachkani, La Pocha Nostra, and Teatro La Candelaria to name a few. In the past couple of years, they have used their knowledge as a designer and technician to help create and adapt live performance events to digital platforms, building new creative methodologies. Sebastian was the lighting designer for the 2018 & ‘19 Toronto International Burlesque Festivals, and 2019 Vanguardia Dance Festival. Sebastian is a specialist in Isadora and video tech. They starred in, designed, and choreographed for Sold-out T.O. Fringe hits Lysistrata, Carmilla, and Mayhem at Miskatonik. Since mid-2020 Sebastian has served as stream technician for well over a hundred shows for companies like Tapestry Opera, Buddies in Bad Times, Aluna Theatre, and a flurry of independent creators.

 

SENJUTI SARKER – Tour Stage Manager, Technical Director

Senjuti Sarker (she/her) is a South-Asian multidisciplinary artist, librarian, designer, technician, and a manager. Senjuti is also a scholar and a published author with a research focus in justice and anti-colonial arts practices. Some of her previous involvements include working in various capacities with Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, Santee Smith, Loose Tea Music Theatre, English Theatre Berlin, Other HeArts Collective, The AMY Project, The RISER Project and INDUSTRY.

 

RYAN WEBBER - Video Design / Video Technical Manager

Ryan is a video and projection artist who develops projects for stage and installation. His love of real-time video art emerged through his regular VJ engagements at several Toronto electronic music events. He is also a designer and co-owner of future-forward thinking fashion label Plastik Wrap. For the last few years, he has been a core member of the Troikatronix Team, where he has worked extensively in Isadora, both as a platform for live video performance and, as a framework for creating rich interactive and data-driven installations. While he works and lives in Hamilton Ontario, his work has been shown across North America and Europe. Ryan strives to enrich the story being told, perhaps to give additional depth to drama or to increase the energy and movement of a scene.

 

ADRIANA FULOP - Costume Design

Adriana is a Slovakian born fashion and costume designer. In 1999 she moved to Toronto to pursue a career in fashion and costuming. In 2001, she started her own fashion label Plastik Wrap which led her into the costume design profession. In the last decade, Adriana has created costumes for many video and film productions, dancers, musicians, as well as independent theatres and artists. Her client list includes Space Channel, APTN, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, Bralen Dance Theatre, Indspire Awards and many others. Adriana's main passion is creating. She embraces the challenge of designing any style required for the job at hand.

 

SHANE POWLESS - Videography / Production Support

Shane is from the Mohawk Nation from Six Nations of the Grand River. He works as a videographer/photographer/editor/graphic designer/lighting technician/audio technician. Over the years, Shane has travelled extensively with various dance, theatre productions and musical groups providing the above services. His focus has been working within my Six Nations community, supporting our artists and cultural projects with organizations and artists such as: Woodland Cultural Centre, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, Thru the Red Door, Six Nations Polytechnic Institute, Six Nations Council, Derek Miller Band, Logan Staats, Rochester Knighthawks, Lacey Hill and more.

 

NICK SHERMAN – Singer/Songwriter

Nick Sherman sings about life in Northwestern Ontario with a focus on finding strength and hope, even if the themes or topics can be heavy. “You have to go through these hardships to know what you’re made of,” Sherman says. But the Thunder Bay-based artist isn't afraid to confront issues that affect Indigenous youth in isolated communities, because they mirror those he faced growing up.

 

SEMIAH SMITH – Singer

Semiah is a Kanyen'kehá:ka (Mohawk) singer/songwriter from Six Nations, Ontario. She began professionally singing traditional music from her Haudenosaunee heritage in her late teens in solo performances and as a member of the singing trio, Hatiyo (the good voice). At the same time, she also began writing songs in English, however had never published any of her contemporary works until her first single, ‘Nothing Can Kill My Love for You’ debuted in May 2021. Semiah continues to challenge herself in her songwriting to explore the nuances of identity, love, and the growing pains of her twenties.

 

Kaha:wi Dance Theatre Board of Directors: Janis Monture, Danbi Cho, Paula Laing, Jessica Powless, Dr. Bernice Downey, Stephanie Burnham, Naomi Johnson, Randy Schmucker.

Creative Producer/Director/Performer: Santee Smith
Tour Producer: Kaha:wi Dance Theatre
Cultural Advisors: Geronimo Henry, Thohahoken Michael Doxtater, Roberta Hill
Performers: Jonathan Fisher, Katie Couchie, Montana Summers, Raelyn Metcalfe
Composition/Arrangement: Jesse Zubot
Additional Composition: Adrian Dion Harjo
Songs: “Find My May”, commissioned remix by Nick Sherman; "I Saw The Light", performed and recorded by Nick Sherman, Semiah Smith (vocals) and Nathan Smith (fiddle); "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", performed and recorded by Nick Sherman; "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" by Patsy Cline, arranged by Nick Sherman, Semiah Smith (vocals); “The Storm” by Iskwe; T’will be Glory, Martin Family Singers from the album “Kaha:wi”, Rob Lamothe (voiceover)
Video Tech/Director: Ryan Webber
Original Set/Lighting Designer: Andy Moro
Costume Designer: Adriana Fulop, Leigh Smith, Elaine Redding
Production Tour Manager/Tour Lighting Designer: Sebastian Marziali
Tour Stage Manager: Senjuti Sarker
Production Support/Videographer: Shane Powless
Production Support: Woodland Cultural Centre, Thru The Red Door, Art Gallery of Guelph
Banff Centre for the Arts & Creativity
- Production Manager- Karin Stubenvoll
- Production Coordinator- Pia Ferrari
- Lead Video Technician- Jennifer Chiasson
- Video Practicum Participants: Kevin Oliver, Christopher Bussey, James MacKinnon
- Studio Technician, Cameraman, Video Actor - Aubrey Fernandez
- Audio Post Engineer- Edward Renzi
- Lead Animator: Sasha Stanojevic
- Animation and Design Practicum Participants- Rimsha Nadeem, Frank Seager
- Video Actor: Carver Kirby, Kevin Oliver
Company Support: Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council

PMA 1610 - Technical Production Lab: Andrew Aman, McKee Bond, Olivia Breitkopf, Tatiana Bustos, Ana Carmona-Pereda, Kaitlin Chang, Flora Ding, Peter Levine, Oscar Llodra, Ben Mehler, Elliot Overholt

BUILDING/HOUSE MANAGERS: Idey Abdi, Cierra Baptiste, Kenneth Choi, Mari-Christina Clark, Safiyyah Franklin, Jack McManus, Jessica Pedro-Pascual, Nia Reid-Vicars, Ethan Sarpong, Matthew Saylor

PRODUCTION STAFF
Director of Productions and Events: Pamela Lillard
Technical Director: Fritz Bernstein
Assistant Technical Director: Savannah Relos
Props Coordinator: Tim Ostrander
Costume Shop Supervisor: Lisa Boquist
Master Electrician: Steven Blasberg
Sound Engineer: Warren Dennis Cross
Computer Support: Chris Christensen
Communications Manager: Gary Gabisan
Performance & Events Coordinator: Youngsun Palmer

Nia:wen to the people who have offered insight into the work: Katsi Cook, Louise McDonald, Jan Longboat, Amos Key Jr., Steven and Leigh Smith, Doug George-Kanentiio and through the Woodland Cultural Centre’s Survivor Series Talks: John Elliot, Bud Whiteye, Sherlene Bomberry as well as staff. In premiering The Mush Hole, Santee Smith acknowledges the generous support of Canada Council for the Arts; Ontario Arts Council; Hnatyshyn Foundation - REVEAL Indigenous Arts Award 2017; The Mush Hole Project 2016 - University of Waterloo; Arts Gallery of Guelph - Exhibition 150 Acts: Art, Activism, Impact 2018; Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity - production residency, Prismatic Arts Festival - premiere and The Socrates Project/McMaster University.

Kaha:wi Dance Theatre's residency at Cornell University is sponsored by the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, the Department of Performing and Media Arts, The Provost's Office for Faculty Development and Diversity, the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, the West Campus House System (WCHS), the Department of Art History and the American Studies Program.

Photo Credit: Fred Cattroll