Dreaming Roots

Monday, June 27 at 8 p.m.

Yukon Arts Centre
300 University Dr.
Whitehorse, YK

Diyet van Lieshout, Co-director

Dreaming Roots is led by Yukon First Nation Culture & Tourism Association. Funding partners include Global Affairs Canada (Global Affairs Leadership Initiative) Canadian Heritage, Lotteries Yukon, Canada Council for the Arts, National Arts Centre Creation Fund, Crime Prevention & Victim Services Trust Fund. Supporting partners include Yukon Arts Centre and Gwaandak Theatre. 

“ Dreaming Roots is about how we see ourselves in the present, how we connect with our past and how we dream of our future as Yukon First Nations people. This show explores questions such as: Where do we come from? How do we connect to the source? How do we reconcile and heal? What are our hopes and dreams? ”

– Diyet van Lieshout
Co-director


It’s in our blood— the memory and knowledge of the source and the dreaming. Our people have struggled and lost but we have loved and experienced joy. Now, it is time to return to the sacred place where life begins to transform, laugh and dream together. Join us. Dreaming Roots is a spectacular, inspiring performance journey by, and about, Yukon First Nations people. It weaves together new work from more than 50 Yukon Indigenous artists in dance, music, drumming, theatre, storytelling and more— in traditional and contemporary forms.

Dreaming Roots is directed by internationally acclaimed Indigenous artists, Alejandro Ronceria and Diyet van Lieshout, with a collaborative team guided by knowledge keepers in a culturally grounded process.

Building on What the Land Remembers, when Yukon First Nations performers shone on international stages at the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad, our goal is to ignite the fire in this and future generations—part of an ongoing legacy project in
cultural performing arts revitalization.

“This multi-disciplinary show is the culminated efforts of emerging and established artists from across the Yukon and a production team that focuses on a blanket approach encompassing mentorship, access and cultural supports. In turn, allowing the artists to create from a place of safety, truth, and adventure,” says van Lieshout.

By Patti Flather