Inner Fish Performance and O. Dela Arts presents:
Matriarchs Uprising
Indigenous Women Dancing Stories of Transformation
Contemporary Indigenous Dance Performances and Community Workshops
June 15 and 16, 2026
at the Rotary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna B.C.
About the event
Matriarchs Uprising – Indigenous Women Dancing Stories of Transformation, is a mixed bill of contemporary Indigenous dance works from Vancouver’s O.Dela Arts, and featuring solos by Olivia C. Davies, Sophie Dow, and Samantha Sutherland, on June 15–16, 2026, at the Mary Irwin Theatre in Kelowna. This event is supported by the BC Arts Council. The program includes a Talking Truths Circle Conversation with Indigenous artists, Syilx Nation Knowledge Keepers, and local arts leaders, as well as two community dance workshops led by the artists. All activities will take place at the Rotary Centre for the Arts. Presented in collaboration with O.Dela Arts Society—through a connection initiated by Dance West Network and dancer and choreographer Claudia Moore—this project aligns with Inner Fish’s mandate to present innovative work while advancing reconciliation through meaningful opportunities for Indigenous artists. The works reflect evolving directions in Indigenous dance, blending storytelling, Contemporary dance methodology and interdisciplinary approaches. In a region with limited access to professional Contemporary Indigenous dance forms, this presentation expands audience access and supports the circulation of Indigenous-led work within British Columbia. The featured choreographers are developing hybrid practices that integrate cultural knowledge, movement, and personal narrative, demonstrating the leadership of Indigenous women in shaping the future of the performing arts. Outreach activities deepen the project’s impact by creating space for dialogue and embodied learning. O.Dela Arts’ signature “Talking Truths” Circle Conversation fosters respectful exchange, while the community workshops provide direct engagement with Indigenous artistic practices. Overall, this project strengthens the presence of Indigenous-led dance in B.C., supports artists in reaching new audiences, and centres Indigenous voices within Kelowna’s cultural landscape. It also marks a significant step for Inner Fish Performance in presenting an Indigenous-led program of this scale in the Okanagan.
Program
June 15, 2026
Community Workshop 1
Salloum Room at 3pm
Intro to Contemporary Indigenous Dance ~ Olivia C. Davies and Sophie Dow
(No previous dance experience required)
Join Olivia and Sophie as they offer a gentle introduction to Contemporary dance through an Indigenous lens. Participants will be guided to tap into the material of bone and muscle, mind and body, and presence to explore the space within our body and surrounding us. Guided improvisations will generate intentional gestures sourced from our imaginations and our blood memory. Set sequences will apply basic movement fundamentals and take us into momentum with reach, push, pull, yield, and spiraling action. This workshop invites participants to move and reflect through embodied prompts and visceral imagery and to consider what we carry in our personal bundle. No previous dance experience required. Bring your barefeet, bottle of water, and your imagination.
Performance (Double Bill)
Mary Irwin Theatre at 7pm
Journals of Adoption by Sophie Dow:
Journals of adoption is a sifting and movement through 2 journals of origin: one text from Sophie’s birth mother's pregnancy & process of offering her up; the other text from her own reflections, queries and ruminations as an adopted child.
ʔa·kinq̓uku by Samantha Sutherland:
Fire ignites, grows, burns, and devours. Once it decays, what destruction does it leave behind? How does the earth regrow out of the ashes?
ʔa·kinq̓uku, the word for fire in the Ktunaxa Language, is a solo that follows the life cycle of a wildfire, and the regrowth that occurs after. This piece was created in reaction to the wildfire that burned through the Samantha’s home community of ʔaq̓am in the summer of 2023.
June 16, 2026
Community Workshop 2
Salloum Room at 10am
Choreographic Method ~ Samantha Sutherland and Sophie Dow
(No previous dance experience required)
Join Samantha and Sophie as we listen, gather, explore the reciprocity of the circle and cycles within our stories, memories from the earth and the imprints within our own bodies. We invite participants to move and reflect through embodied prompts and visceral imagery in connection to the choreographic themes of their works: journals of adoption, Slip Away, and ʔa·kinq̓uku. Together we'll journey a series of teachings naturally ingrained in our bones by proxy of living and residing as human beings on this planet. No previous experience required. Bring your barefeet, bottle of water, and your imagination.
Talking Truths Circle Conversation
Salloum Room at 3pm
Talking Truths Circle Conversation - Free Event
Join host Olivia C. Davies (Anishinaabe) in this Talking Truths Circle Conversation with choreographers Sophie Dow and Samantha Sutherland, plus local Knowledge Keeper and arts leaders as we speak our truth and share our experiences as creators of cultural legacies. In this decolonized space, where two concentric circles meet, the public are welcomed as witnesses to the conversation. As witnesses, one person in the outer circle will be called upon to share their witness account and be responsible for carrying the conversation forward into their own circles. All are welcome to enjoy this contemplative and expansive artist conversation where we will gather in deep listening, lean into each speakers’ lived experience, and learn more about the inspiration guiding their life paths and artistic and cultural creations.
Performance (Double Bill)
Mary Irwin Theatre at 7pm
Slip Away by Samantha Sutherland:
Slip away, a solo created and performed by Samantha Sutherland, explores themes of loss and hope relating to the endangered state of the Ktunaxa Language. What happens when individuals are motivated by fear? What work needs to happen to develop a sense of hope for our future? This solo shares accounts of the current efforts toward preservation of the endangered language, and showcases dreams of how it may continue to be enlivened in the future.
Rematriate by Olivia C. Davies:
To rematriate is to return to the source. In response to the systems that hold society hostage to continual technological advancement and an ever-growing disconnection to reality, this solo seeks to articulate potential pathways to peace and presence that are grounded in Contemporary Indigenous feminism.
In Rematriate XX23, stars shimmer across a great expanse of darkness marking the first glimmer of life stirring. The universal form moves through her body, shaping the spaces in between, and settling in her softness. She welcomes the Earth to crawl up into her form as the waters rise around her. Gathering strength to carry on. Shape-shifting from this world to the next with each breath.
About the Artists
Samantha Sutherland
Describe your image
Samantha Sutherland is a contemporary dance artist, choreographer, and teacher based in Tkaronto. Her ancestry is Ktunaxa and Scottish. She grew up on Coast Salish territory and graduated from the Arts Umbrella Dance Diploma Program in 2018. Samantha began choreographing dance solo works in 2021 and has presented in festivals across Turtle Island. Some include the Matriarchs Uprising Festival, Sharing the Stage with The National Ballet of Canada, Dance Made in Canada, SummerWorks, and Weesageechak Begins to Dance. Samantha premiered her first ensemble dance work naⱡa at Citadel Spring Mix in Toronto, and later presented the work in Vancouver at the Matriarchs Uprising Festival. She has performed in dance works by Raven Spirit Dance, Santee Smith, Olivia C. Davies, Alejandro Ronceria, and Jera Wolfe. She is currently on faculty at The Centre for Indigenous Theatre, and an Artistic Associate with O.Dela Arts.
Sophie Dow
Treaty 1-born Sophie Dow is a multidisciplinary creator, inspired by dance, music, fi lm, collaboration and Michif, French & Ukrainian roots. An avid adventurer, Sophie exudes passions for busking and traveling on top of holding a degree in Dance Performance and Choreography from York University. Sophie presently fulfi lls roles as: artistic associate of O.Dela Arts, The Chimera Project & V’ni Dansi/Louis Riel Métis Dancers, a licensed practitioner of Traditional Thai Massage, a trained facilitator & student of BreathWave, a freelance dancer/choreographer/musician/producer/clown and a puddle jumping trickster.
Olivia C. Davies
Olivia C. Davies creates and collaborates across multiple platforms including choreography, creative writing, fi lm, improvisation, and sound design. Davies' body of work explores the emotional and political relationships between people and places, often investigating the body’s dynamic ability to transmit narrative, seeking to traverse boundaries and challenge social prejudice by conveying concepts and impressions that open different ways to experience the world. Her work has been presented in BC, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec since 2011. She is the Managing Artistic Director of O.Dela Arts, and creator and curator of the Matriarchs Uprising Festival series that celebrates the work of Indigenous women dancing stories of transformation. Recent choreographic projects include Maamawi: Together through the Fire, a virtual reality immersive experience and live performance retelling the Anishinaabe 7 Fires Prophecy through the lens of Indigenous Futurism, created in collaboration with Peppers Ghost New Media Collective; where you go, in collaboration with the choral ensemble Music Intima; and Straight, No Chaser, a biomyth monodrama that explores Olivia’s blood memory and the lessons passed down to her from her mother. She honours her mixed Anishinaabe, French-Canadian, Finnish and Welsh heritage.
Event Funders
