Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-nf276 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-19T21:57:45.259Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dancing Chiax, Dancing Sovereignty: Performing Protocol in Unceded Territories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2016

Mique'l Dangeli
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article focuses on the work of Squamish dance artist S7aplek (Bob Baker) and the ways in which the assertion, negotiation, and enactment of Chiax (Squamish protocol) is vital to his artistic process and performance. Unceded Squamish territory includes the lower mainland of Vancouver, Howe Sound, and the Whistler corridor in British Columbia. Through an analysis of two of S7aplek's collaborations, I argue that his practice affirms Squamish land rights, epistemology, and hereditary privileges among diverse audiences and collaborators. Grounded in Chiax, these assertions of sovereignty are an embodiment of politics and self-determination that I refer to as dancing sovereignty.

Keywords

Collaborative processdancing sovereigntyland rightsprotocolrelationscapessovereigntytransmotionunceded

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 48 , Issue 1: Indigenous Dance Today , April 2016 , pp. 75 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Works Cited

Aeriosa Dance Society. n.d. “Aeriosa Dance Society Notices and Upcoming Events.” http://www.aeriosa.com/files/news.html. Accessed August 22, 2014.Google Scholar
Aeriosa Dance Society. 2007. Home Page. http://www.aeriosa.com. Accessed February 5, 2012.Google Scholar
Akrigg, G. P. V., and Akrigg, Helen B.. 1997. British Columbia Place Names, 3rd ed.Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Askren, Mique'l. 2011. “Dancing Our Stone Mask out of Confinement: A Twenty-First-Century Tsimshian Epistemology.” In Objects of Exchange: Social and Material Transformation on the Late Nineteenth-Century Northwest Coast, edited by Glass, Aaron, 37–47. New Haven, CT: Bard Graduate Center, Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Barman, Jean. 2005. Stanley Park's Secret: The Forgotten Families of Whoi Whoi, Kanaka Ranch and Brockton Point. Madeira Park, BC, Canada: Harbour Publishing.Google Scholar
Carlson, Thor. 2005. “Rethinking Dialogue and History: The King's Promise and the 1906 Delegation to London.” Native Studies Review 16(2): 1–38.Google Scholar
Carr, Geoffery. 2013. “Bearing Witnesses: A Brief History of the Indian Residential Schools in Canada.” In Witnesses: Art and Canada's Indian Residential Schools, edited by Watson, Scott, Wallace, Keith, and Tyner, Jana, 9–19. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery.Google Scholar
Dangeli, Mique'l. 2015. “Dancing Sovereignty: Protocol and Politics in Northwest Coast First Nations Dance.” PhD Thesis, University of British Columbia.Google Scholar
Davis, Hilary. 2014. Email to Julia Taffe, April 29.Google Scholar
Dowell, Kristin L. 2013. Sovereign Screens: Aboriginal Media on the Canadian West Coast. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska.Google Scholar
Fisher, Robin. 2003. “Su-Á-Pu-Luck.” Dictionary of Canadian Bibliography. http://www.bigraphi.ca/en/bio/su_a_pu_luck13E.html. Accessed September 24, 2013.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, Nicole. 2008. “Outdoor Dance Performance.” Pique News Magazine, January 18. http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/outdoor-dance-performance/Content?oid=2159711Google Scholar
Fraughton, Holly. 2009. “Whistler's Signature Piece Takes Shape.” Pique News Magazine, February 13. http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/whistlerandaposs-andapossignature-pieceandapos-takes-shape/Content?oid=2163916.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Peter William. 2011. “Control in SḵWx̱Wu7mesh.” PhD Thesis, University of British Columbia.Google Scholar
Manning, Erin. 2009. Relationscapes: Movement, Art, Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Mawani, Renisa. 2005. “Genealogies of the Land: Aboriginality, Law, and Territory in Vancouver's Stanley Park.” Social & Legal Studies 14: 315–339.Google Scholar
Niezen, Ronald. 2013. Truth and Indignation: Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools. Ontario: University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Raheja, Michelle H. 2010. Reservation Reelism: Redfacing, Visual Sovereignty, and Representations of Native Americans in Film. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Rickard, Jolene. 1995. “Sovereignty: A Line in the Sand.” In Strong Hearts: Native American Visions and Voices, edited by Foundation, Aperture, 51–59. New York: Aperture.Google Scholar
Rickard, Jolene. 2011. “Visualizing Sovereignty in the Time of Biometric Sensors.” The South Atlantic Quarterly 110(2): 465–482.Google Scholar
Taffe, Julia. 2011. “Aeriosa Application - Canada Council Production Projects Grant.” March 15.Google Scholar
Taffe, Julia. 2013a. “Julia Taffe Biography.”Google Scholar
Taffe, Julia. 2013b. “The Trees Are Portals - Grant Application for 2014 City of Vancouver Project.” December 9.Google Scholar
The City of Vancouver. 2013. “City of Vancouver Proclaims a Year of Reconciliation.” June 20. http://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/city-of-vancouver-proclaims-a-year-of-reconciliation.aspx. Accessed October 24, 2013.Google Scholar
The City of Vancouver. 2014. “ Standing Committee of Council on Planning, Transportation, and Environment Minutes.” June 25.Google Scholar
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2003. “British Columbia National Event Program.” September 18–21.Google Scholar
Vizenor, Gerald. 1998. Fugitive Poses: Native American Indian Scenes of Absence and Presence. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar