Nigamon/Tunai – performance

Since 2010, Nigamon/Tunai has been a platform for artistic exchanges and collaborations between Indigenous communities in Canada and Colombia as well as between artists from these two countries.

From May 14-30, 2024, Nigamon/Tunai premieres at Théâtre Espace GO and Festival TransAmériques. The European premiere will follow – at Edinburgh International Festival from August 15-18, 2024. The South-American premiere of the performance is to be announced.

Both here and in Amazonian Colombia, the turtle is a central figure in many indigenous cosmogonies. Here, the earth was created on the back of a turtle; there, the turtle is the mother of all waters. It is connected to the lunar cycle and to the feminine dimension of life, as much to water as to earth and the stars.

The words Nigamon and Tunai mean “song” in the Anishinaabemowin and Inga languages. NIGAMON / TUNAI is a poetic manifesto by Émilie Monnet and Waira Nina, inspired by the bonds of friendship and solidarity between them, and by the exchanges and collaborations they have been developing over the past twelve years between indigenous communities in the North and South.

At the crossroads of friendship and resistance for the protection of water and against extractivism in their respective territories, the two women invite us to a precious sharing nourished by the living knowledge, cosmogonies and struggles that link them. In Canada, mining and oil companies still thrive, while over there, in the Amazon, on the territory of the Inga people, they destroy entire living environments to plunder their resources – including copper, central to Anishinaabe culture.

In NIGAMON/TUNAI, Émilie Monnet and Waira Nina experiment with their voices, their breath and their bodies. Interweaving immersive performance and audio documentary among indigenous knowledge and voices, this new theatrical work reveals fascinating resonances between territories.

Read Émilie Monnet’s interview about the creation process of NIGAMON/TUNAI for FTA 2023.

Read the interview with Émilie Monnet and Waira Nina for FTA 2024.

Discover the previous collaborations of the platform.

Émilie Monnet: co-author, co-director, performer // Waira Nina: co-author, co-director, performer // Sarah Williams: associate director // Yohayna Hernández: dramaturge // Wanderson Santos: assistant director and stage manager // Mélanie O’bomsawin: video designer // Julie Christina Picher: set designer // Mayumi Ide-Bergeron: props assistant // Chantal Labonté: lighting designer // Leonel Vasquez: sound designer // Frannie Holder: music and sound designer // Frédéric Auger: sound // Esmeralda Vasquez: singing coach // Yso: costumes designer // Julie Cusson: make-up and hair design // Cynthia Bouchard-Gosselin: production manager // Samuel Thériault: technical director and sound manager // Floyd Favel: outside eye and protocol consultant (North) // Luciano Mutumbajoy: outside eye and protocol consultant (south) // With the pre-recorded voices of: taita Luciano Mutumbajoy, Sonia Mutumbajoy, Yolanda, Jacanamijoy Mutumbajoy, Charito Chikunque, Amanda Roy, Sharon Day, Eudosia, Anik Sioui // Children’s voices (Luna 8): Alanis O’Bomsawin-Galand, Élouan O’Bomsawin-Galand, Aja-Eyal Ferron, Sophie Gionet-Santos // Véronik Picard: researcher, responsible for the dramaturgical text // Translation: Elisabet Ràfols (French, English, Spanish); Cleo da Fonseca (Portuguese) // Kimberly Guillaume: administration director // Jean-Matthieu Barraud: communications director // Cusson Management & La Magnanerie MAG.I.C: booking

Nigamon/Tunai is a production of Productions ONISHKA in co-production with Festival TransAmériques and in collaboration with Espace GO.

Nigamon/Tunai is supported by the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund and the Cole Foundation (Intercultural Dialogues).

Nigamon/Tunai benefited from an Indigenous Dramaturgies Circle residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, from a residency at Kokolampoe Drama Center in Saint-Laurent du Maroni (French Guiana) and from a sound creation residency at Centro de la escucha de Sibaté (Columbia).

Nigamon/Tunai was created with an eco-conception approach, and thanks to the contribution of Soverdi, Société de verdissement du Montréal métropolitain, 10 trees graciously loaned for the production will be rooted in the heart of the community at the end of the performances. They will provide shade, freshness and clean air for future generations, contributing to the objectives of the Plan Climat Montréal 2020-2030.

The performance will be available with audio translations in four languages (French, English, Spanish, Portuguese)

PERFORMANCES

June 3-4, 2023 – work-in-progress as part of Festival TransAmériques, Montreal

May 14-30, 2024 – MONTREAL PREMIERE at Théâtre Espace GO and Festival TransAmériques

August 15-18, 2024 – EUROPEAN PREMIERE at Edinburgh International Festival

TBA – SOUTH-AMERICAN PREMIERE + PERFORMANCES IN EUROPE

VISUELS

Photo credit: Helena Vallès

Since 2010, Nigamon/Tunai has been a platform for artistic exchanges and collaborations between Indigenous communities in Canada and Colombia as well as between artists from these two countries.

From May 14-30, 2024, Nigamon/Tunai premieres at Théâtre Espace GO and Festival TransAmériques. The European premiere will follow – at Edinburgh International Festival from August 15-18, 2024. The South-American premiere of the performance is to be announced.

PERFORMANCES

VISUELS

PARTENAIRES