Media Release

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For immediate release
June 2, 2006

Manitowapan brings native stories and dance to life

Gaetan Gingras: Manitowapan and Rulan Tangen: New Work
Friday, June 16, 8:00 p.m. – Margaret Greenham Theatre
Adult $15 – Student/Senior/Child $12, Arts Lover Passholders $10
The Banff Centre Box Office: 1-800-413-8368, 762-6301

Two essential elements of native culture — dance and storytelling — will come to life on stage this month when The Banff Centre presents Gaetan Gingras’s Manitowapan and new work by choreographer/dancer Rulan Tangen.

Manitowapan is the latest creation by Gingras, winner of the Centre’s 1998 Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award. Featuring dancer Sophie Lavigne and storyteller Bob Bourdon, the work is inspired by the oral and dance traditions of North American native people. “For Aboriginal peoples of the past…. storytelling and dancing were more than simple expressions of Aboriginal peoples’ beliefs; they were powerful rituals, capable of repairing broken bridges between the visible and invisible,” says Gingras.

Gingras, an Iroquois-Mohawk, began his dance career in his hometown of Drummondville, Québec and continued his studies at Concordia University and the Toronto Dance Theatre. Gingras has created more than a dozen choreographic works, including Osheron and Shaping Worlds as Fire Burns, created at The Banff Centre during his 1998 Clifford E. Lee residency.

The June 16 show will also feature new work by Rulan Tangen, co-director of Earth Dance Theatre. Tangen has 20 years of experience as a dedicated dance artist, performing professionally with ballet, modern, and powwow dance companies in New York, Canada, California and Europe.

Manitowapan and Rulan Tangen: New Work will be presented Friday, June 16, 8 p.m., at the Margaret Greenham Theatre, as part of the Banff Summer Arts Festival’s Playbill Series. The performances are presented in conjunction with the Society of Dance History Scholars conference.

Tickets for all Banff Centre events are available through The Banff Centre Box Office: 1-800-413-8368 or 403-762-6301. The Playbill Series continues at the Banff Summer Arts Festival with two outdoor concerts: Sarah Harmer (August 15 ) and Baka Beyond (August 17), both in the Donald Cameron Hall Amphitheatre.

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High resolution downloadable images of Manitowapan and Rulan Tangen .

More information on The Banff Centre’s Playbill Series.