Artist Lara Kramer standing by tree in front of former Pelican Lake Indian Residential School

Phantom Stills & Vibrations

Lara Kramer’s new work Phantom, stills & vibrations creates an intimacy with the north (Lac Seul, ON) and confronts the brutal and complex relationships between Indigenous peoples and Settler society. For this performance and sound installation, Kramer draws the spectator into an immersive experience of the former Pelican Lake Indian Residential School, where three generations of her family attended. Produced in collaboration with Stefan Petersen, Phantom stills & vibrations explores the residual effects of the Residential school system and the continuing trauma that permeates the landscape.

From Nadine Changfoot: Ashley Fellow 2018 Producer

Lara Kramer’s work is intimately linked to memory, examining issues of social, political, cultural importance for Canada and First Nations Peoples. Her ground-breaking work Native Girl Syndrome (NGS) grapples with experiences of Indian Residential Schools which are prominent in her family’s history. In addition to NGS, she has created several feature length performance pieces (e.g. Tame, Of Good and Moral Character, Fragments) to critical acclaim that explore family and personal, complex, multilayered experiences, including from Indian Residential Schools and street life. These experiences speak to assimilation, cultural disorientation, confinement, survival, and human connection. Her works have been presented in Montreal, Ottawa, Peterborough, Rama, ON, Toronto, Regina, Edmonton, Banff, Vancouver, and Australia, gaining her recognition as an important Indigenous voice in Canada. She has been artist-in-residence across Canada and was also faculty of the Indigenous Dance Residency at The Banff Centre. She has been featured more than once in The Dance Current, Canada’s national dance magazine.

I met Lara in 2015 when she presented Tame at Market Hall in Peterborough to a full house and resounding warm and enthusiastic reception. Trent students and community, Indigenous and non-Indigneous, will be drawn to Lara for her warm personality and meaningful connections she makes with each person she meets. More than this, she explores the relationship between environment, experiences, and embodiment to create greater awareness and potential for expanded understanding of oneself, the social and political. I took a movement workshop with Lara (State of Body Performance workshop) after the performance of Tame. In the workshop, she facilitated greater awareness of the body in space, including sensorial awareness (especially aural) that, for me, opened onto new and multiple vistas of self-understanding of past, present, and future. I believe that there would be great interest among students and community artists in her proposed workshops to explore the relationship between memory, body, and agency, to process their own individual and social experiences, as well as to inspire growth and creativity.

Schedule

All venues are physically accessible.

Monday February 26

Traditional Teaching: Artist Talk on Phantom, stills & vibrations
6:00pm to 8:00pm, Open to the Public with reception.
Benedict Gathering Space, Gzowski College

40th Annual Ashley Fellow Lara Kramer (Oji-Cree), Artistic Director of Lara Kramer Danse will discuss her new work Phantom, stills & vibrations, that will be on exhibit at Artspace March 2 through 9.

Wednesday February 28

Public Artist Talk, Discovery of State of Body Workshop and Reception
No dance experience required or expected
7:00pm to 9:00pm
Bagnani Hall, (followed by a Reception in the Senior Common Room) Traill College

40th Annual Ashley Fellow Lara Kramer (Oji-Cree), Artistic Director of Lara Kramer Danse will discuss her new work Phantom, stills & vibrations, that will be on exhibit at Artspace March 2 through 9. In the workshop component, Lara Kramer will bring participants into a creative process that supports the discovery of a state of body. The aim will be to explore and enter a state that will inform the physicality and theatricality of each individual. Working in solo form, participants will be encouraged to respond instinctually to lead explorations to develop an anchor, a central working system in the sensing body from which to build. Time will be allotted to develop and expand on personal connections made, deepening an awareness to the layering within state of body.

Friday March 2

Grand Opening of Elders Gathering
4:00pm to 6:00pm with highlights from all Elders Gathering presenters
Gzowski College, Room 114. Registration and information at webpages below.

Elders Gathering
Website
Registration
Schedule

Saturday March 3

Opening of Phantom, stills & vibrations, 12:00pm
Artist performance at 1:30pm and 3:30pm with reception after the last performance. Open to the public. Written and audio description will be available.
Artspace Gallery, 378 Aylmer St. N. (between Hunter and Simcoe).
Exhibit continues through until March 9.

40th Annual Ashley Fellow Lara Kramer’s new work Phantom, stills & vibrations creates an intimacy with the north (Lac Seul, ON) and confronts the brutal and complex relationships between Indigenous peoples and Settler society. For this performance and sound installation, Kramer draws the spectator into an immersive experience of the former Pelican Lake Indian Residential School, where three generations of her family attended.

Monday March 5

Discovery of State of Body Public Workshop.
No Dance experience required or expected.
7:00pm to 9:00pm
The Seasoned Spoon Café, Champlain College

40th Annual Ashley Fellow Lara Kramer (Oji-Cree), Artistic Director of Lara Kramer Danse will bring participants into a creative process that supports the discovery of a state of body. The aim will be to explore and enter a state that will inform the physicality and theatricality of each individual. Working in solo form, participants will be encouraged to respond instinctually to lead explorations to develop an anchor, a central working system in the sensing body from which to build. Time will be allotted to develop and expand on personal connections made, deepening an awareness to the layering within state of body. Her new work Phantom, stills & vibrations is on exhibit at Artspace, March 2 to 9.

Tuesday March 6

Social Fire in the Tipi
2:00pm to 3:30pm
First People’s House of Learning Tipi

40th Annual Ashley Fellow Lara Kramer (Oji-Cree), Artistic Director of Lara Kramer Danse will join members of the Trent Community at the Social Fire in the tipi. Please drop by for a chat with her in this friendly, relaxing environment and warm up by the fire! A Firekeeper will be on hand.

Friday March 9

Closing of Phantom, stills & vibrations with performance followed by reception
7:00pm to 10:00pm, Open to the public. Written and audio description will be available.
Artspace Gallery, 378 Aylmer St. N. (between Hunter and Simcoe).

40th Annual Ashley Fellow Lara Kramer’s (Oji-Cree) new work creates an intimacy with the north (Lac Seul, ON) and confronts the brutal and complex relationships between Indigenous peoples and Settler society. For this performance and sound installation, Kramer draws the spectator into an immersive experience of the former Pelican Lake Indian Residential School, where three generations of her family attended.