Waawaate Fobister
2025–2026 Artist-In-Residence

ARTIST BIO

Waawaate Fobister is a Two-Spirit Anishinaabe storyteller, actor, dancer, playwright, choreographer, producer, and theatre instructor from Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows). Their movement vocabulary is rooted in contemporary pow wow, with a focus on grass dance.

They trained in Theatre Arts – Performance at Humber College, studied Indigenous dance at Banff Centre for the Arts, and completed summer intensives with the School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Centre for Indigenous Theatre, and Kaha:wi Dance Theatre.

Waawaate’s debut play Agokwe earned six Dora Mavor Moore Awards, including Outstanding New Play. Other original works include Medicine Boy and Omaagomaan. They choreographed the Dora-nominated Bent Boy for Young People’s Theatre, and their works have been presented by major theatre companies across Canada and internationally in Japan, the UK, Australia, and the U.S. Highlights include presentations with Clutch, One Yellow Rabbit, Native Earth, and Canada’s National Arts Centre.

As a performer, Waawaate starred in Julius Caesar (NAC/Native Earth) and danced in Carlos Rivera’s I’m Not the Indian You Have in Mind. They also commissioned Dark Song, a duet with Arik Pipestem choreographed by Malgorzata Nowacka-May, and toured with The Chimera Project.

Beyond the stage, Waawaate founded the first-ever LGBTQ2S+ Advisory Council for Grand Council Treaty #3. Their leadership and advocacy have been recognized with the Mark S. Bonham Centre Award and nominations for the Ontario Premier’s Award, the K.M. Hunter Award, and Edmonton’s Sterling Award.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Miskwiin follows the way Anishinaabe knowledge moves through time. I think of it like a current — teachings, songs, and memory traveling through the body across generations. When I move, I feel that timeline open. That’s what I’m working with.

The piece uses breath, dance, prayer, and improvisation to tap into blood memory. Not the colour red — the feeling of something old waking up inside the body. Two-Spirit energy guides the shifts: past to future, soft to sharp, masculine to feminine.

In the residency, I’m tracing how the body receives these teachings and how movement becomes a form of time travel. I’m building a vocabulary that listens to the knowledge coming through, instead of forcing the body into set shapes. Miskwiin is the body returning to itself across time.

Collaborators: Emma Petit, Zeus Gonzales, and Carol-Ann Bohrn

Emma Petit is a Winnipeg-based dance artist, choreographer, and instructor. Originally from Montréal and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, her journey ultimately led her to Winnipeg, where she is now a graduate of the Senior Professional Program at the School of Contemporary Dancers. As an emerging artist, Emma is deeply focused on exploration and discovery within the contemporary dance community.

With years of diverse training and performance experience across Canada and internationally, she has created and continues to develop her own choreographic works, while actively performing as a dance artist. Emma values authenticity in both creation and performance, and is drawn to spaces that invite vulnerability, honesty, and raw artistry to fully come alive.

Zeus Gonzales is a Filipino-Canadian artist born and raised in Biñan, Laguna, Philippines. Ten years ago, he and his family immigrated to Canada to begin a new chapter filled with possibility and growth.

Zeus began his dance journey at Maples Collegiate, where his early training in Hip Hop, Jazz, and Ballet laid the foundation for his artistic voice. It was there he met Rachel Cooper, who introduced him to The School of Contemporary Dancers, a place that deepened his love for movement and inspired him to pursue dance professionally.

Through the school’s Professional Programs, Zeus honed his craft and completed his dance degree through the Senior Professional Program in affiliation with the University of Winnipeg. A proud queer artist, he believes dance exists as a bridge between movement and music, a living language that connects emotion, identity, and community.

Zeus has performed with Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers’ ‘Emerging Artist Initiative’ over the last three years. Through dance, Zeus has performed and travelled the world by performing in countries like Cuba, Israel, and Ukraine, to name a few, and is working toward obtaining a  Bachelor of Education with Honours at the University of Winnipeg, continuing to explore how art and education can move hand in hand.

Carol-Ann Bohrn is a freelance contemporary dancer, choreographer and teacher. Her career began in Saskatoon with the White Birch Ballet, followed by four seasons with Gearshifting Performance Works and the last seven seasons at Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers. Her choreography in PTE’s By Grand Central Station earned her and her collaborators Thomas Morgan Jones and Alexandra Garrido a nomination for an Evie Award. She has conducted her own research supported by Young Lungs: she developed multi-media piece Let Me Let Me alongside visual artist Madeline Rae. Carol-Ann met Waawaate last year during a research project led by Aria Evans, and she is thrilled to be working with Waawaate again, alongside Emma and Zeus.

RESIDENCY DATES AND EVENTS

Residency:
January 26 – February 6, 2026

Open Studio:
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
4:00 – 6:00pm
Space to Create – 2B-468 Main Street
Pay What You Can
TICKETS

Accessibility Information:
17-step staircase
Gender-inclusive washrooms
ASL interpretation offered upon request

Public Sharing:
Thursday, February 5, 2026
7:00 – 8:30pm
Prairie Theatre Exchange – 393 Portage Avenue #300
In partnership with Kiyanaan Indigenous Theatre Festival
Pay What You Can
TICKETS

Accessibility Information:
Physically accessible
Gender-inclusive washrooms
ASL interpretation offered

Facilitator: Aria Evans
Essayist: Maggie A. Clark

Aria Evans (they/them) is an award-winning, queer, interdisciplinary artist working across dance, theatre, and film. A certified Intimacy Coordinator, Aria draws on their multiracial identity to explore meaningful themes through collaborative and interactive performance. Collaboration is central to their artistic practice and informs the work they create with their company, Political Movement. Aria is an Assistant Professor in the Theatre and Film Department at the University of Winnipeg. In 2024, Aria was inducted into the Dance Collection Dance Hall of Fame as a recipient of the Sandra Faire Next Generation Award. Their choreographic work has been presented internationally across North America and Europe. In addition to their creative practice, Aria regularly contributes to the field as a juror, panelist, facilitator, and curator, and collaborates widely in dance film and interdisciplinary performance.

Maggie A. Clark is a music critic, archivist, and master’s student in history at the University of Manitoba. Each of these roles are of dubious social utility, but she trudges along anyway. She is the assistant editor of Stylus Magazine, the treasurer of the Trans Solidarity Tuesday Group, and a member of the 1919 Workers’ Collective. She is currently working on a major research paper about the provenance, arrangement, and administrative history of the Manitoba Gay/Lesbian Archives.

WRITTEN ESSAY BY MAGGIE A. CLARK

Waawaate Fobister’s 2025-2026 YLDE Artist Residency Open Studio with participants D-Anne Kuby, Emma Petit, and Zeus Gonzales, February 3, 2026. Photo credit: Pablo Riquelme

This residency is made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, Manitoba Arts Council, and the Winnipeg Arts Council.