Indigenous choreographer's ballet 'T’el' tours to Tla’amin territory

Cameron Fraser-Monroe is taking his ballet T’el on a two-week tour of British Columbia, beginning on Jan. 27 in Powell River, a city on the traditional territory of the Tla’amin people, where his aunties and grandmother are expected to be in the audience. Inspired by a legend Fraser-Monroe heard as a child, T’el: The Wild Man of the Woods is the first full-length work by an Indigenous choreographer to be commissioned by a major company, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

The all-Indigenous creative team includes composer and cellist Cris Derksen; the score mixes powwow drums, chanting, cello and electronic elements. Because the company has no Indigenous dancers, Fraser-Monroe set the fable in a fictional neighbourhood and developed characters with the performers in the studio, and he recorded narration by Elsie Paul in English and Ayajuthem.

The production comes amid the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s long-standing interest in Indigenous programming and broader efforts at reconciliation: the company has engaged Indigenous artists for decades and supported works linked to Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including the full-length Going Home Star.

But the company has also faced internal conflict — last February all four members of its Indigenous Advisory Circle resigned, saying they felt tokenized and disregarded. The company issued an apology and hired a third-party consulting firm to review the matter, though a founding member of the circle said the process had stalled.

Key Topics

Culture, Cameron Fraser-monroe, T'el, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Tla'amin Nation, Elsie Paul