Touring in 2026
Kiuryaq is an immersive circumpolar experience exploring the power and mystery of the Northern Lights. It is an interdisciplinary piece created by musical, visual and theatre artists from Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples of Canada, Greenland, and Sápmi. We have been following the threads of stories which weave through the Aurora Borealis, or “Kiuryaq” in director Reneltta Arluk’s Inuvialuktun language. These stories, frightening, spiritual, epic and playful, are situated in our memories and experiences, and in our traditions which converge and talk to each other in ways we could not have imagined. Kiuryaq situates these stories in an overarching narrative about two siblings separated by a forced adoption from a Northern Indigenous community. Brother and sister, one raised under the Aurora and the other raised with no knowledge of their place of origin, are brought together by the Northern Lights. Kiuryaq is a transformative performance which knits the circumpolar region together and offers its wisdom to the planet. In form, Kiuryaq is a blend of concert, with original music played by live string quartet and singer, theatre, with three performers embodying multiple roles, and film, with expansive, immersive projections. It is being designed to tour and have impact in multiple performance venues and for various communities, from large concert halls, theatres and planetariums, to snow amphitheatres and Northern community centres.
Creative Team
Writers: Reneltta Arluk, Rawdna Carita Eira, Alon Nashman
Co-Directors: Reneltta Arluk and Carmen Braden
Composer: Carmen Braden
Choreographer: Mique’l Icesis Dangeli
Performers: Salik Lennert, Julie Lumsden, Elin Oskal
Set Design: Hailey Verbonac
Projection Design: Chimerik 似不像
Lighting Design: Itai Erdal
Costume Design: Samantha McCue
Film Production: Davis Heslep
Collaborating Filmmaker: Riddle Films