Santee Smith

Canadian educator

Santee Smith

Smith receiving the 2019 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize

19th Chancellor of McMaster University

Incumbent

Assumed office
November 21, 2019
Preceded by| Suzanne Labarge
Personal details
Children| 1[1]
Alma mater| McMaster University

Santee Smith Tekaronhiáhkhwa CM is a Canadian Mohawk multidisciplinary artist, dancer, designer, producer, and choreographer.[2][3][4] She has used her voice and research to create dance works representing Indigenous identities.[5][6] She is an advocate for Indigenous performances and is one of Canada's most dominating dance artists.[3][6] Santee Smith has amassed multiple awards throughout her career and in 2019, she was appointed Chancellor of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.[3]

## Biography

[edit]

### Early life and education

[edit]

Smith grew up on the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve.[1] She is a member of the Mohawk Nation.[7][8]

When Smith was three years old, she was hit by a vehicle, resulting in injuries that placed her in a body cast. That same year, she broke her other leg in a cycling accident.[1][9] Smith began dancing as a form of physical therapy. At age 11, she was accepted into Canada's National Ballet School, where she trained for six years, but never completed it. She claimed it was because she felt that her education was not allowing her to connect with her Mohawk identity.[1][7][10] She also at some time during her training was in Banff at the Aboriginal Dance Program.[5]

Smith attended McMaster University, earning degrees in physical education and psychology. She also earned a master's degree in dance from York University in Toronto.[7]

### Artistic career

[edit]

She took a hiatus from dancing to focus on her degree but missed the creativity that dance offered so she began to choreograph dances in 1996 and created her very first dance work in 2004.[11][12] She committed six years of work to it and named it Kaha:wi, which means "to carry".[6][10]

In 2005, Smith founded and serves as the artistic director and producer of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, a Six Nations company based in Toronto.[6][10][13] The goal of creating this dance theatre was to ignite interest in the collaboration of training, Indigenous identity, and performance.[6] Smith's work introduces modern Haudenosaunee songs and dance, and mixes it with traditional ones to bring the present and past together in a way that honours the integrity and culture of the material.[14]

Smith also creates pottery pieces as a way to demonstrate her Indigenous identity and was recently chosen to have her work "Talking Earth", which depicts the traumas of colonization, as a permanent art piece at the Gardiner Museum.[15] She has also had her pottery designs shown in other exhibits such as in the Woodland Cultural Centre and the National Gallery of Canada.[4] Her families involvement in pottery dates back to her grandmother, Elda "Bun" Smith, who caught an interest in pottery after finding broken pottery pieces throughout her reserve.[15][16] After researching their significance and history she found that pottery was historically a Mohawk tradition that had gradually dissolved when explorers came to North America.[16] Santee's grandmother helped revive the tradition of pottery and passed down this tradition onto Santee's parents who now have a pottery business which Santee also works at.[4][15][16]

Smith also uses pottery as a way to incorporate Indigenous identity into her performances.[12] The pottery she incorporates is Indigenous made and has images and symbols that represent important aspects of Indigenous culture such as earth and how one must live in balance with it.[12] In the production Blood Ties that she helped produce, she used a piece of pottery that her father specifically curated for the performance, as her parents are very well known Mohawk ceramic artists. [5][12] Additionally, the work that Smith creates also involves the collaboration of many Indigenous peoples.[5] When creating her first dance Kaha:wi, she interviewed members of her reserve and family to help her create the storyline around Haudenosaunee life and ideologies as well as utilized Indigenous musicians to create the music for her production.[5]

Santee Smith has created 14 different productions outside of the many short creations she has also been responsible for, and her productions have seen the stages of many places nationally and internationally.[6] Her research and passion has made her into an advocate for Indigenous dramatic performances and practice by creating storylines that represent Indigenous lives.[6] Moreover, through her works she also reconstructs the understandings of gender, specifically highlighting how colonization has impacted the way in which women are understood in Indigenous traditions.[5] Smith shows how traditionally women within her Haudenosaunee and Mohawk culture were seen as powerful, sexually empowered, and even owners of land and uses her performances as an attempt to reclaim those identities.[5][17]

Some of the creations Smith has helped choreographed have been a 2017 Canadian Opera Company production of Louis Riel, an opera based on the story of the Métis leader Louis Riel.[18] The same year, she designed the opening ceremony act for the North American Indigenous Games, held in Toronto.[19] With Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, Smith created The Mush Hole: Truth, Acknowledgement, Resilience, a performance piece about the Mohawk Institute, a residential school for First Nations children that operated in Brantford, Ontario.[20][21][22] In 2019, the show premiered at Young People's Theatre in Toronto, before embarking on a North American tour.[21]

### Chancellorship

[edit]

In 2019, Smith was named the new Chancellor of McMaster University, succeeding Suzanne Labarge as the honorary head of the university.[9] She is the first Indigenous person to hold this position.[23] Smith was installed into this role on November 21, 2019 and reappointed in February 2022.[24][25]

### Honours and awards

[edit]

Work related awards  Year  | Category  | Work  | Award  | Result  | Ref.

|
|
|
|
|

2005  | Best Cultural and Ethnic Recording  | Kaha:wi album  | Hamilton Music Awards  | Won  | [2][3]
2008  | Outstanding Performance | A Story Before Time  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards | Nominated  | [2][26]
| Outstanding Production | A Story Before Time  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Nominated  | [2][26]
2012  | Outstanding Production  | TransMigration  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Nominated  | [2][26]
| Outstanding Sound Design/Composition | TransMigration  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Nominated  | [2][26]
2013  | Outstanding Choreography in the Dance  | Susuriwka – willow bridge  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Won  | [3][27]
| Outstanding Sound Design/Composition  | Susuriwka – willow bridge  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Nominated  | [26]
2014  | Outstanding Performance – Female  | NeoIndigenA  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Nominated  | [2][26]
2019  | Outstanding Performance Ensemble in Dance  | Blood Tides  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Won  | [3][27]
| Outstanding Production  | Blood Tides  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Won  | [3][27]
| Outstanding Original Choreography  | Blood Tides  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Nominated  | [26]
2020  | Outstanding Production  | The Mush Hole  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Won  | [3][27]
| Outstanding New Play | The Mush Hole  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Won  | [3][27]
| Outstanding Direction | The Mush Hole  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Won  | [3][27]
| Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble  | The Mush Hole  | Dora Mavor Moore Awards  | Won  | [3][27]
Non work related awards  Year  | Award  | Association  | Ref.

|
|
|

2003  | Chalmers Award for Dance  | Ontario Arts Council | [2][3]
| H. M. Hunter Award for Dance  | Ontario Arts Council  | [3][28]
2006  | Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award for Dance  | Canada Council for the Arts | [3][29]
2008  | John Hobday Awards for Excellence in Arts Administration  | Canada Council for the Arts  | [3][30]
2015  | Eihwaedei Yerihwayente:ri (Community Scholar)  | Six Nations Polytechnic | [3]
2017  | REVEAL Indigenous Arts Award in Dance  | The Hnatyshyn Foundation | [3][31]
2019  | Outstanding Achievement in the Performing Arts  | Celebration of Nations  | [3][32]
| Joanna Metcalfe Performing Arts Award  | The Metcalfe Foundation  | [3][33]
2023  | Member of the Order of Canada |  | [34]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d Ginsberg, Janie (July 23, 2015). "Dancer Santee Smith: A story of passion and resilience". The Hamilton Spectator. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Public Energy (September 15, 2015). "Kaha:wi Dance Theatre The Honouring". Public Energy.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Santee Smith". Kaha: Wi Dance Theatre. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
4. ^ a b c "Santee Smith will be McMaster's next Chancellor". Retrieved December 9, 2021.
5. ^ a b c d e f g Worlding dance. Susan Leigh Foster. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire [England]: Palgrave Macmillan. 2009. ISBN 978-0-230-20594-9. OCLC 318670648.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: others (link)
6. ^ a b c d e f g "Meet Artist, Santee Smith". Woodland Cultural Centre. May 14, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
7. ^ a b c "McMaster names Indigenous artist Santee Smith its next chancellor". CBC News. February 14, 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
8. ^ Boutsalis, Kelly (March 4, 2019). "Interview: Santee Smith becomes McMaster University's chancellor". NOW Magazine. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
9. ^ a b McNeil, Mark (February 15, 2019). "New McMaster chancellor expected to bring Indigenous pride and artistic flair to post". The Hamilton Spectator. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
10. ^ a b c Dechausay, Lucius (November 3, 2020). "Choreographer Santee Smith takes us back to Six Nations where her dance career began". CBC.
11. ^ "Dancer Santee Smith: A story of passion and resilience". The Hamilton Spectator. July 23, 2015. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
12. ^ a b c d "Episode 21 // Santee Smith". TO Live. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
13. ^ Lake, Michael (September 21, 2017). "Dancing to the power of women at Prismatic". The Coast. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
14. ^ Beadling, L. L. (2011). "In a native key: Shelley Niro's revisioning of the baroque suite form in suite: Indian". Canadian Journal of Film Studies. 20(2): 111–127 .
15. ^ a b c "Santee Smith selected for public artwork honouring Indigenous presence on Turtle Island". Two Row Times. August 11, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
16. ^ a b c "R1 Tools & Technology — Work 1". Native American Art Teacher Resources. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
17. ^ Beadling, L. (2013). In a native key: Shelley Niro's revisioning of the baroque suite form in suite:Indian ( 2005 ). University of Wisconsin Platteville.
18. ^ Doherty, Michael (April 20, 2017). "The real challenges of reviving a Louis Riel opera". Maclean's. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
19. ^ Mullin, Mallone (July 14, 2017). "A sneak peek at the Indigenous Games' opening act". CBC Sports. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
20. ^ Simpson, Drew (November 22, 2018). "The Mush Hole Project". The Silhouette. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
21. ^ a b "'The Mush Hole' confronts the legacy of trauma of residential schools". kawarthaNOW. October 21, 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
22. ^ Fricker, Karen (October 19, 2019). "In the Mush Hole, the terrible legacy of residential schools is impossible to ignore". The Star. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
23. ^ Casey, Liam (February 14, 2019). "McMaster University names Indigenous artist Santee Smith as next chancellor". The Star. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
24. ^ Laux, Sara (November 22, 2019). "Santee Smith installed as McMaster's 19th chancellor". McMaster Daily News. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
25. ^ "Santee Smith reappointed McMaster's chancellor". Daily News. McMaster University. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
26. ^ a b c d e f g "TAPA – Nominees". TAPA. April 13, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
27. ^ a b c d e f g "TAPA – Recipients". TAPA.ca. April 13, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
28. ^ "2003 KM Hunter Charitable Foundation | KM Hunter Artist Awards | Ontario Arts Council *****". www.kmhunterfoundation.ca. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
29. ^ CBC Arts (October 18, 2016). "Canada Council awards 7 artists". CBC.
30. ^ "John Hobday Awards in Arts Management". Canada Council for the Arts. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
31. ^ "Laureates – Indigenous Awards | The Hnatyshyn Foundation". www.rjhf.com. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
32. ^ "Welcome + 2020 Celebration of Nations Outstanding Achievement Awards". Celebration of Nations. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
33. ^ "Winners of Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prizes on TVO's The Agenda". Metcalf Foundation. December 16, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
34. ^ "Order of Canada appointees – June 2023". June 22, 2023.

Academic offices

Preceded by

Suzanne Labarge

|  Chancellor of McMaster University
21 November 2019 – Present  | Incumbent