TO Live brings theatrical premiere of SKéN:NEN to the Bluma Appel Theatre
iPhoto caption: Photo by Rita Taylor
This May, TO Live will collaborate with Kaha:wi Dance Theatre to present SKéN:NEN, an immersive dance performance with a narrative rooted in cultural knowledge. Through storytelling, choreography, and innovative design, the show explores Indigenous resilience in the self, community, and natural world.
Created by director-designer-performer Santee Smith, known for the Dora Award-winning dance show Homelands, SKéN:NEN is set after an imagined environmental catastrophe.
“The concept [of] skén:nen translates from Kanyenʼkéha to mean balance and peace. Easy to think and talk about, but much harder to action and embody, especially when living in an unbalanced environment,” said Smith, artistic director of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, in a press release. “Climate change is affecting us all, and SKéN:NEN evokes an imaginary future where humanity is in the fallout from years of extracting from Mother Earth.”
The show centres on a young Kahnyen’kehàka girl named Niyoh, who works with other climate survivors to revitalize humanity’s connection with the environment. For Niyoh this means remembering her rites of passage, ancestral teachings, and treaties, as well as learning from the Earth.
SKéN:NEN stands at the forefront of technical innovation in theatre, making use of multimedia projections that blend cinematic footage of the Adirondacks and Six Nations with cutting-edge 3D animations.
Tickets range from $30 – $75.
Kaha:wi Dance Theatre’s SKéN:NEN runs at the Bluma Appel Theatre from May 10 to 11 Tickets are available here.
Liam Donovan
Liam is Intermission’s senior editor. He lives in Toronto. His Substack newsletter is available at loamdonovan.substack.com.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Stratford's Tom Patterson Theatre. Photo by Ann Baggley.
2027 highlights include a new Canadian Jacob Two-Two musical and two of the Bard’s thornier plays: The Merchant of Venice and The Taming of the Shrew.
iPhoto caption: Devon Michael Brown as Rusty Charlie with members of the 'Guys and Dolls' company. Stratford Festival 2026. Photo by Ann Baggley.
“It's so exhausting, but it's really rewarding when you get to dance so full-out,” says Devon Michael Brown. “You get to use your technique and your training to the fullest extent.”
iPhoto caption: Ping-Hsiang Wang in 'Retina Maneuver.' Photo by Hang Su.
REVIEW: At this year’s SummerWorks Performance Festival, physical storytelling is central
From a dancer becoming a canine to a shy theatre director practicing his swordsmanship, the shows I’ve seen so far use performers’ bodies to dramatize defiance.
iPhoto caption: Anna Morreale and Luca McPhee perform in 'From Stardust' at the 2025 MADGEN Theatre Festival. Photo by Dave Klassen.
MADGEN Theatre Festival returns to the Danforth
Theatre of the Beat selected four producers under the age of 30 to receive paid mentorship from Toronto theatre-makers. From August 20 to 22, each member of the cohort mounts a new one-act Canadian play.
iPhoto caption: Steven Sutcliffe and company in 'Twelfth Night.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: High Park Twelfth Night pays tribute to the crazy things we do for love
As the play’s events ping-pong between seriousness and frivolity, Caroline Toal’s Viola appears constantly aware of the dangerous contradictions in the air, remaining guarded against the chaos' pull — and yet never entirely abandoning the possibility of enchantment.
iPhoto caption: Paul Gross in 'Waiting for Godot.' Photo by David Hou.
Why Paul Gross thinks Waiting for Godot is ‘one of the great achievements of human creativity’
“The audience is with you. You bring them in. There isn't a big division between the stage and the audience,” says Gross, currently playing Vladimir in Waiting for Godot at the Stratford Festival. “They’re the final piece of the storytelling. We need them to complete the circle.”
Comments