New Blood to tell its story in Rosebud

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

New Blood, a poetry-dance-music show telling the story of Siksika Chief Vincent Yellow Old Woman’s residential school experience, will be performed in Rosebud, May 4 to 7.
The cast includes Rosebud School of the Arts (RSA) students, and high school students and elders from the Siksika Nation. Deanne Bertsch is directing.
Paul F. Muir, Rosebud School of the Arts (RSA) education director, invited Bertsch to teach New Blood as the RSA movement class this term. “It’s been on my mind and my heart for awhile: how can Rosebud as a community and as a school build ties with Siksika?” he said. “This seemed to be another opportunity to build more bridges.”
“One of the best ways to connect with another culture is through their stories,” Muir said. “This is a way of exposing our audience to this story.”
He also hopes new relationships will bring opportunities for growth. “For the (RSA) students, who actually get to interact with some of these First Nations dancers and drummers … my hope for them is that it will break down some of the us-and-them ideology,” he said. “It’s easy to just think ‘those people who live on the reserve’. And that never helps. So the more we can see different groups of people as just human beings, look them in the eye, see that they’re actually the same as us (the better).”
Bertsch, who’s taken the show to numerous Alberta communities since creating it at Strathmore High School (SHS) in 2014, keeps telling the story because it changed her life. “I learned so much about the residential school story and how that has affected so many generations of First Nations people,” she said. “I didn’t know so many of the kids died at these schools. … And I didn’t realize that so many of the addiction issues came from this. I didn’t realize all the pain that was caused because of what happened at the schools and how that was passed on to the children of the kids that attended.”
“I’ve been so lucky to get to know (First Nations people) and become friends with them through this show,” she said. “I wish the same for all my non-First Nations friends – that they can experience the culture, experience friendships with First Nations people.”
New Blood has an impact on First Nations people too, Bertsch said. “First Nations people feel so cared about, that non-First Nations people are interested in telling their story, and telling it in a way that they feel honored.”
Kaitlyn Sloboda, a fourth-year RSA student, is singing the female lead, Hawk Girl, alternating with second-year student Cassie Garbutt. Travis Friesen, RSA graduate, is singing the male lead. Mennonite Central Committee is sponsoring the show by paying for the use of George Littlechild’s artwork.
The Rosebud shows are Sloboda’s third New Blood performance, and the show has changed her too. “I’ve been informed (about residential schools) in a personal, collaborative, artistic way, instead of sitting down in a class and having it taught to me,” she said. “I’ve made friends with the two little girls who are the Blackfoot (Siksika) dancers and that relationship is something so special. And (elders) Eddy (Wolfchild), who’s also in the show, and Eulalia (Running Rabbit) – we had an opportunity to connect. … We’re telling a remarkably impactful story together.”
While Bertsch has been directing New Blood rehearsals in Rosebud, she also took SHS students to Cochrane in March, to perform New Blood at the High School One-Act Play Festival. New Blood receives ongoing invitations to perform in and out of Alberta. Bertsch invites anyone interested in sponsoring a performance to contact her at SHS.
Rosebud’s New Blood performances will be on the BMO Studio stage, May 4-7 at 5 pm. Get tickets at 1-800-267-7553 or rosebudschoolofthearts.com.