Talking Stick
Overview
Thank you for joining us at the 2013 Talking Stick Festival! It was a great success! Please join us at next year's Talking Stick Festival, February 18 - Mar 4, 2014.
"The Talking Stick Festival brought so many different nations together not only from the First Nation but from around the world! It was great fun to dance to the beautiful drums and see the beautiful regalia! It was an honour to be your Head Woman Dancer this year".
"I'm a metis girl. loved the mix. pow wow dances and traditional and fancy red river jig steps. beautiful regalia! Marci!"
"BOTH AMAZING AND FANTASTIC!!"
Cafe Daughter Comment: "Just came home from seeing this wonderful play brilliantly done by Star...Paula-Jean Prudat. Very poignant and loving. Well done...may have to see it again"
A Circumpolar Soundscape Comment: "I attended the show last Saturday. Absolutely FANTASTIC!! Wall to wall sound, beautiful and rich voices, emotions and musicianship. I loved it. Thanks to Leela, Diyet, Nive and all the musicians involved in this memorable evening"
View our 2013 Program Guide Online!
Download our 2013 Talking Stick Festival Schedule
2013 Taking Stick Festival
Explore Aboriginal Culture through the Arts
February 19 – March 3, 2013
Full Circle First Nations Performance presents the Annual Talking Stick Festival from February 19 - March 3, 2013. This vibrant citywide festival provides a stage for extraordinary Aboriginal artists; established and emerging, national and international, performing live theatre, music, dance and storytelling.
The festival will feature Performances, Artist Talks and Workshops at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre, The Cultch, The Scotia Dance Centre, The Ironworks Studios, SFU’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, First Nations House of Learning @ UBC, The Wis e Hall, The Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites Vancouver Downtown and various restaurants, schools and community centres throughout Metro Vancouver.
The Talking Stick Festival was initially conceived in 2001 as a one evening of cabaret performance. Since that time it has grown and evolved into what it is today – a two week celebration serving to preserve and promote the language, culture and art forms of the First Nations people by developing and presenting Aboriginal traditions of music, dance and storytelling in a contemporary and entertaining way. The stories and art practices in the First Nations culture have enormous depth and are rich in teachings and the festival is an avenue to bring Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people together, to network, share ideas and pass on knowledge.
Since its inception, the festival has become a place to honour Aboriginal performance, the artistic wealth of the people, and the promise of their future in Canada and has evolved into a fully diversified Aboriginal arts programming offering a number of programs to help develop and educate artists, to inspire young Aboriginal students and to offer accessible and affordable cultural experiences to the marginalized and economically disadvantaged population as well as the mainstream general public
Origins and meaning of the Talking Stick:
The Talking Stick is a democratic symbol of power, honour and integrity used since time immemorial among Indigenous North Americans; particularly First Nations of the West Coast. Talking Sticks of the Coastal Peoples are often elaborately carved and decorated signifying to all important teachings and tribal linage. This serves as both visual and spiritual reminders to the holder of the Talking Stick, and to those listening, to conduct themselves in a manner of decorum and mutual respect for all their relations to witness. Other Nations of the Americas use feathers, wampum, pipes and other sacred items in the same way: to designate who has the right and obligation to speak truthfully and be respectively heard without interruption. Traditionally, Talking Sticks have been, and continue to be, used during critical meetings such as treaty negotiations, as well as important social events and gatherings such as: totem pole raisings and potlatches.
