Aboriginal Dance Company Performs at MACC, July 19

The Dancers of Damelahamid, an aboriginal dance company from West Vancouver, Canada, will perform at the MACC’s Castle Theater on Friday, July 19 at 7:30 p.m.

This performance is timed to coincide with the MACC’s Schaefer International Gallery’s First Nations Art of British Columbia exhibit that runs June 16 to August 11.

The Dancers of Damelahamid’s rich history of masked dance inspires a compelling performance, celebrating the diversity and depth of the many beautiful Indigenous cultures across Canada. Through dramatic dance, captivating narrative, intricately carved masks, and elaborate regalia the Dancers of Damelahamid transform time and space, and bridge the ancient with a living tradition. The company was founded on more than five decades of extensive work of song restoration.

For countless generations song and dance played an integral part in defining art and culture and was banned by the Canadian government for several decades, though it was still privately maintained. The Dancers of Damelahamid emerged in the 1960s out of an urgency to ensure that the knowledge of their ancestors was not lost. Over the forty years that followed, a changed society created the context for the dances to survive through a new role: dance as a performance for public audiences.

Since 2003, the Dancers of Damelahamid has established itself as a preeminent professional aboriginal dance company that has self-produced several theatre-based productions, and the creation of newly choreographed dance works. It is the current directive of the Dancers of Damelahamid to redefine and characterize their practice so that the dances may continue to be tangible and accessible for the next generations.

Tickets are $25, $35 (plus applicable fees). Kids 12 and under are half-price. MACC members receive a 10 percent discount. Tickets are available at the MACC Box Office, by phone at 808-242-SHOW or online at MauiArts.org.

The MACC Box Office is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for window and phone sales. Online sales are available anytime.