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.

Daniel Ashley AKA DASH was born and raised in the Yukon Territory, where he began his diverse entertainment career. His high energy performances engage audiences in a stunning blend of djing, drumming, and gymnastics. He has a gift for enthralling audiences of all ages and walks of life. DASH is a founding member of the Root Sellers, an electronic and Hip Hop fusion band based in the Yukon. He is also a talented electronic music producer, creating beats, soundscapes, and sound effects for performances, video series and games.

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.

Laura Grizzlypaws, a captivating force from Lillooet, British Columbia, proudly embracing her St’át’imc heritage. As a multifaceted artist, educator, language advocate, and author, she passionately preserves St’át’imc traditions. Grizzlypaws embodies the spirit of balance, harmonizing physical and spiritual realms, akin to the bear’s dance. Grizzlypaws holds a Master of Education and various degrees, earning a Language Heroes award for her contributions to the Salishan language family. Beyond academia, she excels in music, winning the Indigenous Music Award and making a mark in fitness, earning accolades in various competitions. Her latest venture includes a children’s book, “Sulyalesta,” enriching St’át’imc cultural knowledge. Currently pursuing a Doctorate in Education Leadership at Simon Fraser University, Grizzlypaws seamlessly blends traditional practices with spiritual wisdom from her St’át’imc heritage.

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.

It is only natural that Karena Koria and Milly Grant-Koria plant this narrative throughout the globe as a stance for building foundations of deep connection as indigenous ambassadors.

A couple with many hats and diverse cultural and global experiences, Karena Koria hails from Ngati Ruahine,Rongowhakaata and Te Aitanga a Mahaki as a world class Martial Artist, Mau Rākau tutor, youth justice facilitator and health and wellness coach, alongside his wife Milly a woman of many ethnic origins hailing from all four winds of our earth(Polynesian, South East Asian, Māori, Scottish, European) an internationally recognised medicine woman and healer, indigenous ambassador, dancer, songbird and together they stand as Directors of the Māori Cultural Experience – LIVING TĀONGA at the Auckland Museum.

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.