Depending on its form, water has the capacity to amplify sound, distort it, or mute it; how do we do the same as we navigate our relationship with this precious resource and one another?

 

Rings Through Water uses ethereal choral and solo singing, contemporary and traditional Indigenous dance, powerful text and theatrical presentation to tell three short stories.  Together they speak for water, lift up the voices of its protectors, and amplify the voices of the missing and murdered Indigenous women who have met their end in it. They also offer a reconciliation-based model for Indigenous and Settler collaboration.

 

The show is typically divided into three sections. The first tells the mystical story of a young woman who goes on a journey to listen to and learn from the water. The second is about the story of a young Indigenous girl who loses her life to violence, and is a memorial to the missing and murdered Indigenous womxn, girls and two-spirited folks of Canada. The third and final part is a modern call-to-action as the performers take a stand as protesters and activists who refuse to be silent any longer.

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Rings Through Water is an interdisciplinary creation between five artists, three Indigenous and two Settlers. Their desire to overcome their own embodied prejudices, privilege, and pain is central to their artistic process and to the beautiful narratives of this show. The show premiered in Halifax in summer 2019, followed by a Maritime tour in the fall. A re-arranged version of the production will make it’s international debut at the World Symposium on Choral Music in Auckland, New Zealand in July 2020.

 

Creators

Deantha Edmunds, Inuk poet

Lisa Nasson, Mi'kmaq dramaturge

Sarain Fox, Anishinaabe choreographer

Christina Murray, Settler choral conductor

Jennifer Trites, Settler composer

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Performing Artists

Xara Choral Theatre

Christina Murray, conductor
Deantha Edmunds, soprano

Sarain Fox, dancer