if . . .

The eVOCative Crow Hop at the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company ended with the traditional round dance ... all performers, staff, attending poets, conference organizers, volunteers, supporters & audience linked hand in hand ... the center empty a birthing womb ... just a couple of hours before Joseph Naytowhow had drummed the space awake with a morning song, cleansed the ear with flute breath love and jigged joy energy to welcome all the relations this summer solstice on National Aboriginal Day in honour of "the broad range of contemporary Aboriginal oralities from storytelling and song to poetry, spoken word, and hip hop" (program notes) ... Marie Campbell , reading from her in-progress work, honoured Metis women. Her understated, quiet voice, warm from a story told in Cree about a priest and a women, held authority and reverence but most importantly the words were testaments to women history had unwitnessed. the mixed bloodlines of families, our tribe, our elder...

a wonderful eclectic evening in the Oak Room of The Park Town -- eVOCative Performance Cabaret ... the program reads: "The eVOCative cabaret brings to our stage five innovative, politically-engaged & dynamic writers and performers. These artists are influenced by, and follow in, a broad range of traditions from sound poetics and dub to feminist performance art, dramatic monologue, and experimental language poetics - all to remarkable effect. There is no way to encounter the surprising and fluid relationships between oral and written poetries than by experiencing the work of artists like bill bissett, Adeena Karasick, Catherine Kidd, Kaie Kellough and d'bi.young.anitaafrika, and I am so thrilled they are all part of this festival and conference. It's going to be a fabulous , fun night!" ( T.L. Cowan, curator ) Cowan , an international writer/performer herself, served up this delectable feast. Cheekily in a blond wig like something hot off an Entertainment Tonight...