June 7, 2022RCA Presents: Body Extended - An Interview with Jessica McMann

Click above to watch our interview with artist Jessica McMann.

Body Extended, coming to the Mary Irwin Theatre June 19th, is a dance performance showcase featuring original interdisciplinary works from performers Emmalena Fredriksson and Jessica McMann. Each piece questions the limits of the human body, exploring how it stretches into the world through its relationships with both land and technology. Our Theatre Programming Coordinator Karma Lacoff Nieoczym sat down with Jessica McMann to talk about her work in the show, titled in Blackfoot iihksiisiinatsiistostiimao nipaitapiitsiin, discovering what the title means and how to pronounce it.

Jessica McMann is an artist based in Cochrane, Alberta. Originally from Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, she was part of the Sixties Scoop - when Indigenous children in Canada were taken, or "scooped," from their families and placed in foster homes, to then be adopted by white families. “My piece [iihksiisiinatsiistostiimao nipaitapiitsiin] is a durational piece that explores my life and how it is to be an adoptee living in land that isn’t my traditional homelands” says Jessica.  

The name of this dance piece is a challenge to the viewer and Jessica herself. Her mother-in-law, fluent in Blackfoot, watched her piece, read her thesis, and came up with the name iihksiisiinatsiistostiimao nipaitapiitsiin, which roughly translates to They Have Made a Mess of My Life. Says Jessica, “It’s important for us to have the names of our works in Blackfoot, my husband is Blackfoot and we live in Blackfoot territory.” Jessica practiced saying the name of the piece when it was first named in 2019, and over the years her saying of the name has transformed – saying it with a more Cree pronunciation after taking lessons in Cree over the course of Covid. The piece itself presents the viewer with a challenging question as well; because of the cultural suppression of Indigenous language and culture with kids being raised in white homes, how do we reconnect, or do we ever reconnect to the land? 

We are excited to welcome Jessica McMann to the Mary Irwin Theatre along with Emmalena Fredriksson for their works in Body Extended! Tickets to the show are available now, so grab your seat today! https://rotarycentreforthearts.com/events/event/121202/


RCA Presents: Body Extended - An Interview with Jessica McMann