How Santee Smith Is Pushing the Boundaries of Contemporary Indigenous Performance

An award-winning artist, dancer, and educator from the Kahnyen’kehàka Nation, Turtle Clan, Six Nations of the Grand River, Santee Smith has been dancing since she was three. Growing up in an artistic family, her relatives supported her passion early on and enrolled her in formal dance training. She fondly recalls her grandmother saying watching her dance was “like medicine.” This early experience of her dance affecting others initiated her passion for performing.