Scene from Sky Dancers. Photo provided.
The Quebec Bridge was designed to be the most advanced bridge in the world. Today, it’s still hailed as an engineering feat for having the longest cantilever bridge span. However, in 1907, the heavy structure collapsed during construction. Of 86 ironworkers working on the project, 75 tragically died, including 33 Mohawk men from the Kahnawake Indigenous community. Who were those men and the community affected by the loss? The dance theatre show, Sky Dancers, explores the grief, strength, and resilience of the actual people impacted by this historical event.
Scene from Sky Dancers. Photo provided.
Sky Dancers: Honouring Strength and Resilience in the Community of Kahnawake, plays at the National Arts Centre (NAC) from January 19–21. The show opens with a presentation describing the event in the Mohawk language with English subtitles. Through dance and set design, the performers take audiences through the bridge collapse. Additionally, a dance performed with 33 hoops represents the Mohawk men who lost their lives that day.
Scene from Sky Dancers. Photo provided.
It’s a personal story for some. The show’s artistic director and choreographer of A’nó:wara Dance Theatre, Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo, lost her great-grandfather to the accident. She says that although the Quebec Bridge disaster is a historical event, it also speaks to a universal story: one of loss and strength.
“I show that, as much as the suffering and everything happened, they had to keep going, they had to lean on each other,” Kaneratonni Diabo says. “It’s a story that has no ending. I tried to end it in a place of showing that we’re still here. We’re still strong. We survived.”
Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo. Photo: Emily Smith.
“Some people know that story. Very few know the connection to my community, which is Kahnawake, and the Mohawk ironworkers came from there… I want people to know not only the story, but get to know us as a people. These were real people, real families, so I show a little bit of our community life. I show the ironworkers and the bridge collapse, but also what happened after and how we survived and carried on and the challenges.”
Sky Dancers also aims to create an immersive experience with original music and lighting. Kaneratonni Diabo says she wants people to feel like they’re part of the show. She adds that the performance is for “anyone to understand and enjoy it, not just people who normally go to dance.”
Sky Dancers plays the NAC’s Babs Asper Theatre on January 19 and 20 at 7:30pm and January 21 at 2pm. Tickets range from $50.25 to $66.25 and are available online.
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