Red Spring Sisters draws greatest talent

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There was a special moment in the audience's exuberant applause for world championship hoop dancer Lisa Odjig's performance-a moment when an incredible bond of respect and admiration for Lisa and the other Native female performing artists united both audience and performers.

The audience, an eclectic mix of Native and non-Native people, were gathered to watch Lisa and the others showcase their talents at the Red Spring Sisters' concert in the Glenn Gould studio in Toronto May 24.

Lisa's dazzling performance of the ancient Native art of hoop dancing was both colorful and done with the deftness that only a pro can manage. The tall, well-toned native of Wikwemikong, Manitoulin Island appeared in a white, pink and green satin skirt and top complemented by white satin boots. Working with a mound of bendable plastic, fluorescent green hoops and the steady beat of traditional Native dance music, Lisa swung her hoops up and down, walked in and out of them, and formed circles with them. At one point, the five hoops held behind her back resembled the circles of the Olympic games; at another point, the hoops were held and flapped behind her shoulders while she danced in small circles to the beat, making her appear to be a giant bird or chicken.

An earlier breath-taking performance by Inuit throat-singers Emily Karpik, 16, and Charlotte Carleton, 10, was so real in its urgent, guttural tones imitating animals and the forces of nature, it felt as if we were transported to to the beauty of a white northern wilderness

The two girls, originally from Pangnirtung, Nunavut, wore fur, knee-length parkas, knee-high mukluks and traditional Inuit gloves.

They faced each other with arms clasped and eyes locked together as they expelled sounds resembling the wind, birds, a team of sled-dogs and a saw. A perfect, totally in-sync performance belied the ages of the two, except for the fact they collapsed in giggles at the end of each piece.

The Kanenhi:io Singers, a quartet originating from the cultures of the Innu, Mohawk, Cree and Pottawattom tribes, sang of the earth, the land and good will toward all people.

The smiling singers, looking very maternal in long dresses and leggings, gave a warm, welcoming feel to the concert as they rattled cow horn shakers, and thumped on a hand-drum and an Iroquois water-drum.

Lucie Idlout, an Inuk singer-songwriter originally from Nunavut, clad in a tight blue jean skirt, tight red jacket and pointy red shoes, sang many Gen X songs of angst, pining for good parent/child relations and highlighting the injustices done to her people.

Her songs were sung both in English and her own language.

Two Americans, top-notch flautist Mary Youngblood playing melodious, haunting tunes on the Plains-style cedar and redwood flute and a dual-chambered flute, as well as children's song and storyteller Dorothy Whitehorse, rounded out the night.

The Red Spring Sisters was one of the first North American concerts ever produced for and by Native women in the arts.

The arts service organization which pulled the event together is aptly called Native Women in the Arts; it brings together First Nations, Metis and Inuit women from different countries and artistic disciplines.