Winter Moons is a mesmerizing, visually-stunning tale of four M’ikmaw fire keepers struggling to survive winter in a large wigwam far away from home due to conflict among their peoples.
Three young Mi’kmaq must learn from the older, wiser woman, Nukumi, how to stay warm, how to eat and how to live within their souls over the three moons of winter.
Produced by Nestuita’si Storytelling in partnership with the Prismatic Arts Festival, Winter Moons has the crackle of fire, the beauty of starlight, the greens of winter trees and the power of Mi’kmaw artist shalan joudry’s contemporary, poetic storytelling.
The 70-minute play, conjured through words, choreographer Sarah Prosper’s dance and striking imagery, is a wonderful opportunity to experience Mi’kmaw culture, legends and spirit; joudry has written a powerhouse of a last line that brings the story right out into today’s wider world of conflict and confusion. It is a call for fortitude and unity.
“Winter Moons tells a story of our people’s deep-rooted connection to the land and each other, as well as the endurance it takes to survive together,” says joudry, in a press release. “It’s a journey through our history and our cosmos, and it shows us what it means to carry warmth and life even in the coldest times.”
The piece starts slowly and builds propulsively through repeated rhythms and movements enveloping the audience in its natural world, both harsh and beautiful, and in the legends and culture of the M’ikmaq. The pace is measured and calming. Prosper’s powerful, assured movement lies between abstraction and representation in line with the poetic nature of Winter Moons.
The poetry is also carried out in the exquisite, semi-abstract design by set designer Holly Meyer-Dymny, projection designer Andy Moro and lighting designer MacKenzie Cornfield. (Stage manager is Chelsea Dickie.)
The wigwam, with a smoke hole so its occupants can see up to the heavens, is conjured on stage by standing sticks pushed together in triangular forms. A giant moon hangs at the top of the stage above the wigwam and is a canvas for ever-changing projections of moons, stars, Northern lights and a blizzard. The fire is an ingenous floor construction of lights that with the sound of crackling seems to give off real heat and sparks.
The dancers’ use of large drums is achingly beautiful as they become moons, symbols of hope or objects bathed in the green light of the forest.
Winter Moons, directed by joudry to create a picture as complete and elegantly kinetic as the changing seasons, has a strong Mi’kmaw cast in Desna “Dez” Michael Thomas, as Pako’si, the one who will follow in Nukumij’s footsteps; Charlotte Bernard as Nukumij, I’thandi Munro as Aknutawi’skw, Lara Lewis as the storyteller and dancer/choreographer Prosper as Ntuksuinu.
Both Prosper and joudry are key Mi’kmaw artists; jodry’s previous stage productions include the Merritt-awardwinning KOQM, a journey through time and land to experience the voices of fictional L’nu (Mi’kmaw) women, performed on Neptune’s Main Stage and at Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, and Elapultiek, her first full-length play in 2018, about a young Mi’kmaw drum singer and a Euro-Nova Scotian biologist both concerned about endangered Chimney Swifts, staged outdoors at the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts. Living in L’sitkuk (Bear River), joudry (https://www.shalanjoudry.com/) runs Nestuita’si Storytelling.
Sarah Prosper, of Eskasoni Eskasoni Mi’kmaq First Nations, first created work as an artistic director and choreographer in the Merritt Award-winning show SAMQWAN 2021-2023 at the Highland Arts, Neptune Theatre, Stratford Festival Film and 2023 Canada Games. She won the 2022 Nova Scotia Indigenous Award and has performed nationally.
Winter Moons runs to Nov. 24 on the Neptune Theatre Scotiabank Stage; the Sunday, Nov. 24, 7:30 performance is ASL. Tickets are online at neptunetheatre.com. Take some cash with you. A couple from Sipekne’katik First Nation are selling lovely beaded jewelry at decent prices.
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