Kiuryaq in Hay River

Presented by

A Production By

Never whistle at the Northern Lights. They will come down and get you. They will play soccer with your head. They are also ancestors calling you home.
Kiuryaq is ‘Aurora Borealis’ in the Western Arctic Inuvialuit language of Inuvialuktun, in reference to their bright colours.

Kiuryaq is an immersive circumpolar theatre performance that explores our relationship with the Northern Lights. It is a multi-disciplinary piece created in collaboration with sound composers, digital media artists, and theatre artists from Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples of Canada, Greenland, Sápmi territory and Alaska. 

We follow these northern stories of connection that inspire us through the aurora borealis, or kiuryaq in Inuvialuktun. These stories – frightening, spiritual, epic and playful – are situated in our memories of then and experiences of now. All are held in our vast cosmologies, converging in ways that could not have imagined when this journey began. 

Kiuryaq is about two siblings born in the North, an older sister and a younger brother. One is taken down south by a forced adoption and raised with no knowledge of their place of birth, the other is raised under the Aurora with their grandparents. Under the ancestral connection of the Northern Lights, choices are made that change both their realities.

Kiuryaq is a transformative performance work which brings the circumpolar region together to share wisdom, warnings and humour to all those who are curious. In form, Kiuryaq blends theatre, with three performers embodying multiple roles; concert, featuring original music played by a live string quartet; and film, with expansive, immersive projections. 

Creative Team

Producers: Akpik Theatre & Theaturtle
Director: Reneltta Arluk
Music Director: Carmen Braden
Writers: Reneltta Arluk, Rawdna Carita Eira, Alon Nashman
Dramaturgy: Christopher Morris
Cultural Envoy: Rawdna Carita Eira
Performers: Julia Ulayok Davis, Salik Lennert, Elin Oskal
Choreographer: Fia Grogono
Stage Management: Ashley Rees
Lighting Design: Itai Erdal
Costume & Props Design: Jay Havens
Composer | Sound Designer: Carmen Braden
Live Performance and Recording: Dior Quartet (Noa Sarid, Joanne Yesol Choi, Yuri Santos, Tobias Elser, Jacob Clewell, Caleb Georges) 
Set Design | Illustrator: Hailey Verbonac
Video Design: Chimerik 似不像
Digital Content: Davis Heslep & Barry Bilinsky
Video Dramaturgy: Barry Bilinsky
Collaborating Filmmakers: Riddle Films & Cabin Productions
Image Design: Rise Frequency Intuitive Graphic Design