Distributed Performance as Systems of Mutual Care

I.F.: Indigenous Futurities: Dancing Earth in CyberSpace (referred to as Indigenous Futurities moving forward) was a live-streamed performance created by the authors in June 2020. It was shared through Howlround TV and various online networks with the support of Colorado College’s 3×3 program and the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund. It was described as follows: “International Indigenous cultural collaborators breathe new life into ancestral creation stories like star maps to guide the future, emerging from destructive centuries of oppressive colonial systems and disease, to remake the world. Meeting in the liminal ‘space between,’ as an opportunity to relate to cyberspace as a realm of Indigenous liberation, with the power to intuit deep connections, activate reciprocal relations, and reimagine the future.” Prior to isolating in lockdowns, collaborators had been preparing for the tour of Dancing Earth’s Between Underground and Skyworld. It premiered at ASU Gammage on January 25, 2020. COVID-19 made the tour of this production impossible. Once it was clear that public health restrictions would be around for a while, an urge to continue to create work led to the question of how to fill this void.