Seeing her book adapted for the dance floor has been an emotional experience for Celestine Aleck.
The Snuneymuxw author has partnered with Crimson Coast Dance Society artistic director and choreographer Holly Bright to transform her story The Sun and Moon into a dance performance.
“It’s really fantastic to work with someone from a different discipline,” Bright said.
She said she’s already received interest from festivals in Vancouver and Calgary, but The Sun and Moon will debut in Nanaimo as the opening performance of the annual Infringing Dance Festival at the Port Theatre on July 5.
The two first discussed the possibility of working together two years ago at the launch of a series of Aleck’s books during National Aboriginal Day celebrations, but Aleck was busy with work and school. In the mean time Bright applied and received funding for the project through the Canada Council for the Arts and the B.C. Arts Council and, Bright said, “The journey began.”
Aleck said she struggled through the process, having gone through her second nervous breakdown. Her first came when she was writing the story. Back then she wasn’t sure how to cope.
“This has been really healing for me. I think I was meant to meet Holly and I think she really did save my life with this beautiful art. For being able to tell my story in a different way,” she said.
The Sun and Moon is a creation story. In it, the eponymous heavenly bodies are married, with their children occupying the Earth. The children pray to the creator to add more beings, so that they may marry and have children of their own. This requires the creator to enlarge the Earth, and the sun and moon are forced to part so they can watch their children grow. This is particularly hard on the moon, who starts to crumble, creating the stars. The children notice the separation saddens their parents and ask them to be reunited, but the creator says the sun and moon agreed to sacrifice their love so that their children may be happy.
“I cried a lot during practices, where the moon’s breaking apart because of my nervous breakdown I can identify with it,” Aleck said.
“And then with the sun helping the moon. I’m a caregiver. I take care of my parents, I have two teenagers, I’m a single parent. I’m always tired. So I can see myself a lot in the story.”
Bright said she researched astronomy when choreographing the story, as the dance makes reference to celestial movements like sunrises, sunsets, eclipses and orbits. She credits her dancers Nicola Jackson and Genevieve Johnson for helping build the performance.
“We just completely finished each other’s sentences. They are so generous and they are co-collaborators. This piece would not be what it is without those specific dance artists,” she said.
“I would make a proposal and they would fill it with movement, and then I would shape the movement. And then they would make a proposal and then I would shape that and so it just became this beautiful exchange.”
WHAT’S ON … Crimson Coast Dance Society’s annual Infringing Dance Festival takes place at the Port Theatre, Maffeo Sutton Park and the White Room from July 5 to 8. Events are free and ticketed. For full schedule and prices see www.crimsoncoastdance.org/infringing.
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