New Native Theatre, a company in Minneapolis, hosts the annual social dance. This was the second year that organizers welcomed people to the gathering.
New Native Theatre presents its second in-person, mainstage production since the pandemic, April 19 through May 7, 2023 at Dreamland Arts in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
1:07
KLCC s Brian Bull reports on a local observance of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) Day, with members of a local Native American theatre troupe and a UO Indigenous organization.
Poetry reader: “In the dark, in the bitter wind…listen to a dream…”
Members of illioo Native Theatre and the University of Oregon’s Indigenous Womxn’s Wellness Group read poetry, under trees adorned with red dresses.
Red dresses and other garments were hung from trees to symbolize thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women across North America.
Credit Brian Bull / KLCC
Co-organizer Marta Clifford explained the symbolism.
“…to show a garment that’s empty, because the women are missing. In many Indigenous cultures, the only color that the spirits can see is red…hoping that they can see the red garments we put out in their honor.”