‘Creating conversations’: New Calgary show brings Indigenous take on old western movies

Some creative Calgarians are shining a new light on southern Alberta’s western heritage.

Indigenous and non-Indigenous performers are coming together to create a real twist on tradition – a new take on the old west.

“The show’s called Indians and Cowboys. We’ve flipped it around and we’re trying to retell the history,” director Michelle Thrush said.

A production by the Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society, the show features big screen scenes from movie westerns going back 100 years.

“When you watch these old westerns, often the Indigenous people are the losers, running from a burning teepee, waiting for a white man to save them. So we’re flipping that whole narrative,” Thrush said. “We’ve put a humourous slant on it all.”

The images on the screen will be accompanied by live music, with new dialogue dubbed in.

“The old westerns are just really silly when they depict what we’re all about and how we dance, and I really get a kick out of some of the scenes,” drummer Skip Wolf Leg said. “Now the floodgates are open for all of our tribes to tell our stories – it’s really good for our youth, because it empowers them.”

Indians and Cowboys runs Jan. 25 to Jan. 27 at the Grand Theatre in downtown Calgary as part of the High Performance Rodeo festival.

“That’s the beauty, finding a voice for all people that call this territory home, in an Indigenously-led way,” Thrush said. “It’s about bringing people together and creating conversations.”