Santee Smith
Artistic Director, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre
Santee Smith (B.P.E, BA Psychology, MA Dance) is from the Mohawk Nation, Turtle Clan and lives on Six Nations Reserve, Ontario. Ms. Smith is the founding Artistic Director and choreographer for Kaha:wi Dance Theatre. One of Canada’s most exciting choreographers, she has propelled KDT to international acclaim.
Santee is the recipient of the K.M. Hunter Award for Dance and the Chalmers Award administered by the Ontario Arts Council. She received Canada Council’s Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award for the most outstanding mid-career artist in the field of Dance in 2006 and the first-ever John Hobday Award for Arts Management in 2008.
Santee holds a Masters Degree in Dance from York University and has spent most of her life committed to dance and creative expression. She attended the National Ballet School (1982-88) and later expanded her knowledge of movement with a Kinesiology degree from McMaster University. Her first choreographic commission was for The Gift, a National Film Board documentary in 1996. Santee was an integral part of the Aboriginal Dance Project at The Banff Centre for the Arts from 1997 to 2001.
Her choreographies include: Kaha:wi (2004), Midwinter Dreaming (2004), Here On Earth (2005), The Threshing Floor (2006), Sacred Spring (2006), A Constellation of Bones (2007), A Story Before Time (2007), A Soldier’s Tale (2008) and Tripped Up Blues (2008). Smith has also been invited to choreograph for: Dancers Dancing, the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, the Canada Dance Festival and numerous film projects.
A creative force, Santee creates, produces and tours her work nationally and internationally including KDT’s Yoh Ha Hee Yoh International Tour (2005) and multiple tours of A Story Before Time. She was a featured choreographer for the CanDance Network’s Indigenous Dancelands I and II with performances at New Dance Horizons (Regina), University of Lethbridge, Peterborough New Dance, Tangente (Montreal) and Dancing on the Edge Festival (Vancouver) and the Vancouver International Dance Festival. Her performances and collaborations have occurred in Canada, United States, Mexico, New Zealand, Japan and Indonesia.
Santee’s choreography has been showcased at ImagiNative Media Arts Festival, SooRyu Festival, Iroquois Indian Museum Festival (NY), JakArt 2002 (Indonesia), Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival, and numerous Harbourfront Centre festivals, among others.
Santee has held guest teaching positions at Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre, Brock University, Iroquoian Indian Museum, York University, George Washington University, Trent University, Hartwick College, Nipissing University and also given numerous dance workshops. Santee is a frequent academic lecturer, writer and inspirational speaker on contemporary dance and performance, Aboriginal dance, music and culture. As a testament to increasing awareness and celebration of Aboriginal dance Santee founded Living Ritual, Canada’s only World Indigenous Dance Festival and which supports the Aboriginal dance community in Canada and abroad.
Santee’s artistic vision includes musical production including her own composition of songs, production and commissions. As a creator and producer of the CD Kaha:wi, she received a Hamilton Music Award in 2003 and two Canadian Aboriginal Music Award nominations, Best Producer and Best Song.
Her choreography is stellar. She is one of the most exciting new artists I’ve seen.
—Max Reimer, Artistic Director Vancouver Playhouse, 2008
Her choreography is bold, earthy, sensual and exciting...
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FFWD, 2005
Since KDT’s beginnings, Santee’s finished work has shown the accomplishments and imagination of a mature artist, contributing to the landscape of dance in Canada.
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Marrie Mumford, Indigenous Performance Initiatives, 2009.