19th Annual Outside Looking In Showcase makes waves onstage

By Ella Miller

TORONTO – Bailey Wilde and Dallas Peters-Turtle are among the 110 youth performers, from 11 different First Nations, participating in Outside Looking In’s (OLI) 19th Annual Showcase. The Showcase is scheduled for May 15 at the Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto.

OLI is a holistic outreach program that uses dance to encourage Indigenous students to stay in school and build relationships with their peers. Every year culminates in a star-studded Showcase where students travel from as far away as Nunavut and Saskatchewan to Toronto to perform.

This year’s OLI Showcase is themed around water as a sacred element, which will be visible in the hairstyling, makeup, costuming, and production design. As part of this theme, the Showcase will begin with a Water Ceremony, according to artistic director, Candace Scott-Moore.

“Throughout the performance element, our grandmother, the Water Walker, will be watering a piece of the stage, which then makes everything grow,” says Scott-Moore around the symbolism. “Water is life, bringing that stage to life, setting the tone for the youth.”

Scott-Moore remarked that youth have also been encouraged to create video packages about how water impacts their life and their communities’.

Wilde, as previously mentioned, is one of the youth participating. She is a Grade 12 student at North Lambton Secondary School from Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation.

This is the first year that Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation has participated in OLI and in its Showcase, becoming the second nation in Ontario to do the latter.

Wilde’s cousin, Scott-Moore, was the one to introduce Wilde to the program.

“I heard about it from my cousin, [Candace],” says Wilde. “She showed me videos from a few years ago and I got inspired. I got full body chills and I wanted to be a part of it eventually, but I knew I was too young so I waited.”

Now that Wilde is old enough to participate in OLI, which is aimed at high school students, she feels more connected to other young people and is relishing the opportunity.

“We have a lot of kids who are shy and – I don’t know how to put it into words – but they are scared to put themselves out there,” says Wilde. “I feel like having a program like this with other youth and other people who come from is amazing because we get to meet them and we get to share our stories.”

Peters-Turtle’s, meanwhile, has travelled to Toronto from Pikangikum First Nation in Northern Ontario where he attends Eenchokay Birchstick School.

“I tried it out in my freshman year,” says Peters-Turtle of OLI. “That year didn’t really go that well, but after that, my second year of OLI, which was tenth grade, I passed and I couldn’t believe that I passed, but I did and I was really happy.”

A press release by OLI states that 86 per cent of students who participate in the program report seeing an improvement in their academics. This is accompanied by some participating communities seeing a graduation rate of up to 96 per cent in their secondary schools.

Peters-Turtle says that OLI has helped him improve his attendance record and grades. He is now part of its Future Leaders program, which provides mentorship and career help to older students.

“We’ve been working hard for the past six months dancing and stuff, and pushing myself to do all the work keeping my grades up,” says Peters-Turtle in response to what it means to travel from Pikangikum to Toronto. “I had to keep my grades up at 70 per cent, but I told myself I wanted to keep my grades even higher than that. I think I did a really good job with that.”

Seeing the achievements of the young people involved with OLI, like Wilde and Peters-Turtle, is what first drew Scott-Moore to the program in the first place. She wishes that there had been a program like it when she was in school.

“I guess I could say I’m slightly jealous that this program wasn’t available to me when I was in high school and growing up,” she says. “But when I see the youth coming together […] these youth are getting to meet each other. I hear stories every day of like, ‘I made a friend today. We connected.’”