Indigenous multidisciplinary artist to host 13th Annual Outside Looking In Gala in Toronto this Spring

By Rick Garrick

NORTH BAY — Indigenous multidisciplinary artist Tamara Podemski is looking forward to hosting the 13th Annual Outside Looking In Gala on May 6 at Meridian Hall in Toronto. Outside Looking In aims to empower Indigenous youth from Grade 7-12, through the transformative art of dance, while they pursue their education, increase their mental and physical health, and engage in self-expression. The youth also earn a high school credit during the six-to-eight month program.

“They get to celebrate their work and it’s just a really beautiful moment of these 200 students coming to represent their communities and this program which has been changing lives,” says Podemski, who is currently starring in CBC’s Coroner and APTN/TVO’s Unsettled and was nominated for a 2020 Canadian Screen Award in writing for APTN’s Future History. “Since 2007, 96.2 per cent of the students that have gone through the program completed high school.”

Podemski, a graduate of the Claude Watson School for Performing Arts where she studied dance, theatre and music from ages eight to 18, says she “immediately said yes” when Tracee Smith, CEO of Outside Looking In, asked her to host the Gala.

“What she and her team have accomplished is nothing short of spectacular and I am thrilled to be a part of this year’s gala performance,” Podemski says. “It’s just going to be a really great night of celebrating the power of our communities and the achievements of these students.”

The youth travel to Toronto for two weeks to prepare for their two performances, which includes daily rehearsals of the choreography they were practicing in their communities and rehearsals with the other youth for the closing number at the Gala. They also have the opportunity to meet new friends from the other communities, participate in camp activities and visit local attractions.

“We do a matinee with school groups that come to see the show in the afternoon,” Smith says. “And the evening show is for the general public, and that is where the families really make an effort to come to the show and cheer on the kids. Lots of families from across the country come to see that show, and it’s a pretty amazing night.”

Smith says some of the youth who previously participated in the program now have younger siblings or cousins or nieces or nephews participating in the program, noting that Lac La Croix has been in the program for about 12 years and Pikangikum has been in the program for about six years.

“So they’re getting some really good dancers there, and the community knows our program really well,” Smith says. “It’s really become embedded into the community culture in both of those communities.”

The youth are taught a set of choreography over the school year by a professional choreographer who visits the community every three weeks or so. Between visits, volunteers from the community help the youth with their dance routines.

“And during that whole school year, we are monitoring the kids’ performance in school, their attendance in school, their academic marks,” Smith says. “They do have to maintain a certain academic and attendance threshold in order to keep in the program.”

DJ Shub, a Six Nations citizen, is also set to perform during the Outside Looking In Gala.

“Tamara and DJ Shub (Dan General) are true inspirations for the students taking part in our year-long program,” Smith says. “We’re honoured that they’ll bring their passion and their leadership to celebrate the culmination of another amazing season for OLI.”