The dancers of Ballet Kelowna are closing out their 20th anniversary season by flipping the script on the wild wild west.
Ballet Kelowna is presenting a double bill titled Transformations that features a work from artist in residence Cameron Fraser-Monroe, called The Cowboy Act, and Disembark by Kirsten Wicklund.
Fraser-Monroe is a member of the Tla’amin First Nation and is taking his final bow as artist in residence for Ballet Kelowna when the season is over.
By creating The Cowboy Act, Fraser-Monroe “explores the dichotomy between ‘cowboys and Indians in this full-evening satirical romp to the Wild West,” states a press release.
“Instead of having visitors to First Nations communities photographing them, we have an Indigenous photographer…visiting the cowboys to photograph them as they are living their daily lives,” said Fraser-Monroe.
To help tell the story and transform the Indian Act into ‘ The Cowboy Act’ the ballet company has constructed a nine-foot-long chuckwagon.
In 1920 it was mandatory that Indigenous children attend residential schools under the Indian Act.
“Looking at this act, it’s really painful and I know that it’s a personal topic for me. My grandparents went in residential schools,” said Fraser-Monroe.
“The way that we look at things in First Nations culture is to laugh. Laughter gets us through pain and I think that we should be able to approach these topics without having to take on the burden of that trauma.”
Fraser-Monroe’s piece has been paired with Disembark. “Reflecting on a world disrupted, the dramatic intensity of Disembark is further amplified by cinematic lighting, which creates an otherworldly atmosphere to highlight Wicklund’s expansive movement,” states a press release.
“It’s a richly-layered work that comments on a world that’s disrupted, so the first half is set to Beethoven, a beautiful sonata, and then the second half moves more into an electro-acoustic score.”
Ballet Kelowna will bring its double bill to the stage of the Kelowna Community Theatre on May 5 and 6. Tickets are still available online, and the audience has been asked to dress in a Western theme.