The highly-acclaimed REMNANTS artistic collaboration is back and at the U of R for a site specific experience of uncovering the stories of the land that has been and remains the ancestral home to the Haudenosaunee. Through dance, storytelling, visual art, music, and the spoken word, the story of the land on which the U of R stands will be told, in addition to stories of a Haudenosaunee matriarchy, the descendant of which will tell the story herself.

The multi-day program of events begins on Sunday, April 24th from 4-6 pm with a program of dance, stories, music and visual art. The adventure begins on the patio of the Sloan Performing Arts Center. The audience will be escorted to various locations on campus to experience dancing, stories, and music. (Rain location: Spurrier)

A number of workshops are being offered, both Monday (April 25th) and Tuesday (April 26th) by the collaborators of REMNANTS, from learning how audiences co-create art, to crafting truth through art, to the healing experience of a nature walk with an expert steward of the local ecosystem. See details for times and locations.

Visit the quad on Monday night (April 25th) to experience a larger-than-life installation of the layered history of the land on which U of R sits, as well as the stories of and images of the people who bear those histories. The outer wall of Wilson will be illuminated with the past.

The Good Mind will be shown on Tuesday night (April 26th) in the Gowan Room in Wilson Commons. followed by a roundtable with Trish Corcoran, Solveiga Armoskite, Tom Gibson, Brianna Theobald, Blair Tinker, and Stella Wang. The film’s journey reveals the Onondaga Nation’s tireless environmental advocacy, and their legal battle with the U.S. over ancestral land taken by New York State in violation of a 1794 treaty with George Washington. Motivated by ancient prophecies, the Nation seeks environmental stewardship of their sacred land and waters, which have suffered vast degradation by industrial resource extraction and pollution.

The multi-day programming culminates with a special performance of the Allegany River Dancers, honoring the social and ceremonial Indigenous dance forms that remain alive and relevant today.

UR REMNANTS

Rochester area historical maps show that a Seneca/Onondowaga village or a major camp site used to be on the present-day River Campus of the University of Rochester. In fact, Haudenosaunee villages, longhouses, camp sites, and a sophisticated trail network used to cover the entire State of New York, northward into Canada and southward into the State of Pennsylvania. This Indigenous land history, however, has remained largely unknown to most of us. Why?