OHAKWARONT | Centre de Création O Vertigo

2026 Edition

May 25 to 29, 2026

Le Centre de Création O Vertigo (CCOV) invites you to the fifth edition of OHAKWARONT, an annual gathering dedicated to Indigenous choreographic creation. For this fifth edition, curator Nicole Jacobs has brought together Marshall Diabo, Ivanie Aubin-Malo, and Alexia Vinci.

OHAKWARONT takes the form of a one-week creative residency—a place for meeting, research, and sharing. Its format evolves each year in response to the needs of artists and the community.

Rooted in Indigenous presence and continuity, OHAKWARONT affirms creation as a living, relational practice. It is a space where artistic processes emerge through exchange and deepen in a spirit of reciprocity.

The public is invited to a post-residency sharing, followed by a discussion with the artists.

Practical Informations

Location → Théâtre Aux Écuries – Lab2M (7285 Chabot Street, Montreal)
Residency Showcase → Friday, May 29 at 2:00 p.m. | Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes | Free

Photo: Nicole Jacobs © Robert Majewski

Artistic Curator

Nicole Jacobs is a member of Curve Lake First Nation and a Montreal-based choreographer, teacher, and collaborator. A graduate of Concordia University’s contemporary dance program, she has developed a practice spanning performance, creation, and transmission. Her movement research weaves contemporary dance, floorwork, and acrobatics. Her work unfolds through physically and emotionally immersive experiences that engage perception and intimacy, vulnerability and control, and states of transformation and liminality.

GENESIS

In 2019, in an effort to further support Indigenous artists, the CCOV initiated a consultation with Soleil Launière, Emilie Monet and Lara Kramer. Out of these discussions came the decision that the CCOV will now dedicate resources to organize an annual event that would celebrate the artistic creativity of the urban Aboriginal dance community.

Following this, in 2020, Ivanie Aubin-Malo agreed to collaborate with the CCOV to follow through with this consultation and imagine the contours that this annual event could take. Finally, in 2021, thanks to MAQAHATINE*, one of their initiatives, the first seeds of OHAKWARONT were planted. Indeed, MAQAHATINE invited Aboriginal dancers to get together, meet and bond behind closed doors. And it is during these moments of sharing that they expressed the wish to strengthen their new
relationships in the future by integrating a creative process. It is in response to this desire that OHAKWARONT was born!

By highlighting Indigenous artists in the field of dance, the Ohakwaront project supports their career development by fostering the continuity and evolution of Indigenous artistic practices and by valuing their cultures.

*Made possible thanks to the resources of Tangente and L’Agora de la danse.

Why the word OHAKWARONT?

Message from Ivanie Aubin-Malo

“Ohakwaront means Heron in Kanien’keha and has its roots in a thought process enriched by the invaluable support of Kevin Deer, Kanien’keha:ka Elder, Lucy Fandel and Catherine Boivin.

To find a name for this event, I was immediately inspired by this place located in the third basement of Place des Arts. There, creation is born, almost in secret, under the surface of the earth and I quickly drew a parallel with the idea of a seed: seeds of artistic inspiration that take root to grow and flourish.

To me, this image resonates just as much with the urban Aboriginal dance community. It operates almost secretly, in the bowels of the earth where everything, while rooted in the shadows, grows towards the sun.

With these evocations in mind, I had an initial inspiring conversation with Kevin Deer. I then related it to Lucy Fandel, who immediately saw the symbolism in it and translated it into a drawing of a growing seed.

During our second conversation with Kevin, I shared Lucy’s drawing with him and he saw the silhouette of the heron.

Kevin Deer, at my side throughout this research process, enquired about the symbolic meaning of the Heron and this is what he found:

The Heron asks us to follow our intuition and to begin the journey toward self-actualization.

The Heron suggests that we continue to develop the skills that lead us to greater inner strength.

It also shows us the importance of being in relation with the greater whole, also demonstrating the importance of being in its relevance, on our own path…

At that very moment, we knew we had found our name, which translates to Ohakwaront in Kanien’keha.

A huge thanks to Catherine Boivin for honouring every step of this story in the logo.”