Adam is Cree and Metis from Ile-a-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan. He was raised traditionally by his grandparents, surrounded by fiddle music. As a young boy, Adam played guitar and then started learning the fiddle, performing for the first time at 15 years old. He attends many old-time fiddle dances in his community and local communities. Now, Adam is an international fiddle champion and had composed his own music. He is an all-around artist and dances pow-wow and makes pow-wow regalia.

Chesha7 iy lha mens translates as “the mothers and daughters,” which represents this group as they are a family of grandmothers, mothers, and daughters. They continue their journey to learn their culture through songs and stories and to become confident in speaking their language. Their cultural ties are woven between Skwxwu7mesh, Sto:Lo, Tsimsian, Hawaiian, and Swiss peoples.  Chesha7 iy lha mens represent and share their cultural songs and dances in the best way to teach and revitalize their culture for the generations to come.

The Chinook Song Catchers are an Indigenous dance group that descends from the Squamish and Nisga’a nations. This dynamic dance group has been representing their heritage at major venues in Vancouver for over fourteen years. Performing at multi cultural festivals and art celebrations; and conducting welcoming ceremonies for international guests to Vancouver. The Chinook Song Catchers have traveled to international events as ambassadors of our respected nations, traveling to Japan, Taiwan, Switzerland, Italy, and Turkey.

The Dakhká Khwáan Dancers are a National Award winning Inland Tlingit dance group based out of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, lead by Marilyn Yadultin Jensen. They focus on reclaiming their languages and traditional values through their inherent art form of singing, drumming, dancing, and storytelling. The Dakhká Khwaán Dancers strive to present their performance with the outmost respect to cultural protocol and with the highest form of artistic integrity. Since forming in the community of Carcross in 2007, they have grown significantly including dancers from the Inland Tlingit communities of Teslin and Atlin. Together, they have danced across Canada, the US, New Zealand, Taiwan, the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and the Pam Am Games in 2015. The group received the 2014 National Aboriginal Cultural-Tourism Award and were nominated for an Indigenous Music Award in their collaborative work with DJ Dash for their album, Deconstruct Reconstruct in 2018.

The Dancers of Damelahamid is an Indigenous dance company from the Northwest Coast of British Columbia with a rich history of masked dance that inspires a compelling performance. Through dramatic dance, captivating narrative, intricately carved masks, and elaborate regalia, the Dancers of Damelahamid transform time and space and bridge the customary with a living practice.

Led in partnership by Mike and Mique’l Dangeli, Git Hayetsk are an internationally renowned Indigenous mask-dancing group. Git Hayetsk means the people of the copper shield in the Sm’algyax language, which is spoken by the Nisga’a, Tsimshian, and Gitxsan Nations. Their dancers are bonded by common ancestry to the Sm’algyax speaking peoples with distinctions in their family ties to the Haida, Haisla, Tahltan, Tlingit, Lil’wat, and Musqueam Nations. Their home villages and ancestral lands are located in Southeast Alaska, Vancouver BC and along the coastline of the Terrace and Prince Rupert area including the Nass and Skeena Rivers. Since 2003, the Git Hayetsk have shared their songs and dances at ceremonial and public events in urban and rural communities throughout Canada, the US, Austria, Malaysia, Germany, and Japan. The Git Hayetsk both sing the songs of their ancestors and create new songs, dances, drums, rattles, masks, and regalia to reflect and record their experiences as Indigenous people today.

Git-Hoan (People of the Salmon) was founded in 1996 by David Boxley, internationally recognized Alaskan Tsimshian Artist and Culture bearer. The group is composed of family and close friends from the Tsimshian, Tlingit, and Haida nations. The songs and dances are presented with an energetic and proud style that, while different from most contemporary dance groups, is based on ancient traditions that belong to all coastal tribes. The Git Hoan Dancers showcase the magnificence of Tsimshian art, resurrect the practice of the culture, and educate the world that Native culture is diverse and a “living” art and culture. The Git Hoan performance is through song and dance sharing legends of the ancestors.

Jessica McMann is an Alberta -based Cree (Cowessess, SK), multi-disciplinary artist. She interweaves land, Indigenous identity, history, language and her contemporary experiences as an Indigenous woman and Two-Spirit person throughout her dance and music creation/performance practice. A classically trained flutist, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Calgary and an MFA in Contemporary Arts from Simon Fraser University. She also is a champion pow-wow dancer. Her first album of Indigenous-Classical music “Incandescent Tales” (June 2021) won Global Music Awards as well as Classical Album of the year at the 2022 YYC Music Awards. She was nominated for Indigenous Arts of the year at the 2022 WCMA’s. She is currently working on her second album slated to be released October 2023. Jessica currently works for the City of Calgary as Curator of Indigenous Art. She is also co-founder and co-director Wild Mint Arts, an Indigenous arts company and is a Laureate of the Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL Indigenous Art Awards (2017).

Paunnakuluit are two Inuit artists, Leanna and Tooma, from Iqaluit, Nunavut. Their voices are beautifully combined into throat songs and drum dance with the special bond they hold as close friends. They have grown into passionate performing artists while searching for a deeper connection to their cultural identity. Along the way, a sense of revitalization has been embedded within them and it has strengthened who they are as young Inuit and friends. Now they share their cultural knowledge with those around them, hoping others will gain strength as well.

Rainbow Creek Dancers (tuul gundlas cyaal xaada) was formed in 1980 by brothers Robert and Reg Davidson, as a response to the renaissance of Haida culture in the early 1970s. They have since become an inspiration to many dance groups with their innovative and beautiful masks, regalia, and songs created by renowned artists Robert and Reg and other group members. The objective of Rainbow Creek is to bring meaning back to the songs and dances of their ancestors, performing them as they were taught by their elders. Following along the path of their ancestors, they strive to continually grow and connect with ceremonies that are relevant today to all people. To do so, they create new songs and dances, building upon the cultural foundation of their ancestors, and drawing upon their collective cultural, ceremonial and professional stage experiences. Rainbow Creek Dancers have performed at esteemed venues and events across BC, Canada, the US, and internationally.

An internationally renowned performer and ambassador of Māori performing arts and avant-garde theater, Rosie has represented a variety of esteemed corporations such as the Mau Foundation, Te Puia Māori Arts and Crafts Institute and Mītai Māori village to name a few. As a result, Rosie has traveled to over 70 countries, working in collaboration with local and esteemed artists from indigenous backgrounds and international acclaim. Rosie has directed performances for national and communal festivals 2016 – 2019 including the opening of her own hometown’s very first Arts festival 2018. Rosie's passions include Kapa Haka, Traditional Māori song and dance and has dedicated 16 years to her current senior Kapa Haka team, Te Mātārāe I Ōrehū. Rosie will compete in the largest Māori festival in Auckland, New Zealand February 2023.

Spakwus Slolem are members of the Squamish Nation. The group presents a glimpse into their culture through singing, drumming, dancing, and audience participation. Spakwus Slolem is pleased and honoured to present songs and dances of yesterday, as well as today, and feel very honoured to represent their people in a good way as their Ancestors had intended. Spakwus Slolem has performed across the world, including Taiwan, Japan, Hawaii, and Europe.

Under the guidance of Wiradjuri Dancer and Choreographer Jo Clancy, Wagana perform contemporary and traditional Aboriginal dances from the creation stories and landscapes of the Darug, Gundungurra and Wiradjuri peoples who have occupied and cared for the unceded lands of the Blue Mountains and NSW Central West in Australia since time immemorial. Wagana’s works include Bangalang for the Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival in Glasgow, Sum of our Ancestors for Dance and the Child in Copenhagen Denmark, Gaurii for the Commonwealth Games Art and Cultural Festival 2018 and Wirawi Bulbwul for Dance and the Child 2019. Wagana were the Australian representatives at the Honolulu Festival in Hawaii from 2016-2020, they have an ongoing artistic collaboration with the Raven Spirit Dancers from Vancouver and they work in Aboriginal communities across NSW. Wagana’s latest works include birrirra bandhung which premiered at Cementa Festival 2022, Wurimbirra – to take care which toured to Whistler in Canada in October 2022 and Yindyang Bila for the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre exhibition ‘WATER” opening in December 2022.

Xwelmexw Shxwexwo:s (Salish Thunderbird) shares history through song and dance from the coastal and river people of the Pacific Northwest and the Salish Sea. They are a family group from many First Nations, including Sto;lo, Musqueam, Sts:ailes, Snuneymuxw, Nuu-chah-nulth, Squamish, and other surrounding tribes. The group has travelled and shared at venues across BC, Canada, and the US and have presented with other groups such as Smokey Valley and Tsatsu Stalqayu. Making new ventures with a new beginning, Xwelmexw Shxwexwo:s hope to electrify audiences with energetic songs and dances to educate the world of their unwritten shared history of their people and heritage.

The ‘Yisya̱’winux̱w Dancers are a professional, adult and youth dance group whose members represent many of the 18 tribes of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw. Many members live and work in Alert Bay, BC. They come together to ‘share’ traditional knowledge by invitation or special arrangement for private events. Although, ‘Yisya̱’winuxw is the most recent formed dance group of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw, many of their members have ‘shared’ professionally for over 20 years. Each of the ‘Yisya̱’winuxw dancers are initiated in their Potlatch ceremonies. The dances and songs they use in their performances are owned by the members, and families within their group.