2020 FESTIVAL CORE ARTIST
Opening Night Bashes Creator
Sierra is from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) and is also xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Kwakwaka’wakw, Tɫingit, and part Hungarian. Sierra is a trained contemporary dancer with over 12 years of experience in the performing arts. Sierra began performing as a professional fire and circus performance artist in 2013, starting the process of combining circus arts and contemporary dance with Coastal values, material culture, and protocols. Sierra is one of the choreographers for Butterflies in Spirit, an Indigenous dance group that raises awareness for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Womxn started by #MMIW activist Lorelei Williams. Sierra’s form of “movement storytelling” works to challenge her audiences to question what is traditional and what is contemporary. Defying temporalization, stereotypes, and spectacle Sierra also teaches “Decolonizing Spectacle” workshops to further the conversations around Indigenous resistance in performance.
