Margo Kane

Margo Kane, well-known Cree-Saulteaux performing artist, is the founder and artistic director of Full Circle: First Nations Performance. She is recognized as a storyteller, dancer, singer, animator, choreographer, video and installation artist, director, producer, writer, community development worker and teacher. Margo Kane has performed nationally and internationally. Her most recent works include The River-Home and Confessions of an Indian Cowboy.

Main

Lisa C. Ravensbergen

Laara Sadiq

Mercedes Baines

Maiko Bae Yamamoto

Margo Kane

Donna Spencer

what we do

In the Middle of My Life

Where did you start?

I think I was a story-teller first. Like many children it wasn't that unusual, but I suppose what was unusual was the number of teachers who took interest in what I was doing, I was recognized for my singing talent. I taught songs, and I led all the singing in my class. And later, I decided somehow very early that I wanted to form a dance group, "7 up", you know, us girls singing and dancing like the groups that I saw on TV. I had already been doing lip sync to all kinds of records, for my friends, and family and stuff, and then the dance group. I guess the performance idea, developed because I wanted to do one thing, and then I wanted to do something else. When I was in junior high someone else outside of my community recognized something in me, and coached me, mentored me to do a community team dance, and so I had to help produce this big event, and I was so shocked, I mean I was only like 12, and I couldn't believe that it was a big success. We had the team dances, and fun games during the dance, and we had a lip -sync, and of course we were the Beatles, the four of us, were the Beatles. I think it was those kinds of events that set the stage for what I was to do later. When I was in high school I was in a drama club, and at first, I didn't go into drama in high school because I was so shy. I know that's hard to believe...

That is a little hard to believe.

I think, lets see, in the drama club I started to become aware of other theatre types, but I had no interest in reading theatre texts, you know, it was very curious to me. It was like I shied away from it somehow until I absolutely had to do it. I did the lead in my high school musical the last year of high school. And I stopped on the verge because I didn't want to go back to school right away. I didn't want to be an actor. I didn't want to act.

What did you think you should be?

I didn't have any idea, I started looking around for job training opportunities...I got a second call for air traffic control.

"Margo Kane Air Traffic Controller". Kind of like what your doing now...

Yeah... yeah... oh, it's too crazy. When I got the second call I thought I can't do this...but I was really searching for something. Then finally I started my professional training in dance. I'd been taking classes for a number of years: creative classes, and things like that. I was a dancer, I liked to move, so I went into dance at a college, where the instructors were from the States. They had their own dance company, and their own classes, and this woman started up this new dance program. I stayed there for about five years off and on, I completed my diplomas, and then I did music and some theatre.

Did you ever feel like you were 'The Native Girl', or did you get that reaction?

No, not much there. I don't think I was aware. I mean I was obviously aware of who I was. After awhile, I found that I wasn't interested in modern dance, and that ballet...I wasn't able to do ballet beyond just a small level, and that was discouraging and disheartening. So what I did was, I branched out. After dance I started taking more drama courses right at the college and some dance during the day, and some music, and I kept building on all my skills. I was looking for a place, or a way to express myself. And so there was a lot of questioning. I'd really study things that were more difficult for me. And I think in the long run, that might be part of my character.

For many women artists of colour that have emerged over the years, including myself, seeing you on stage, seeing your work transformed me, transformed them. By witnessing you on stage it made it possible to dream, to do. There are many of us who would like to see you on stage more. Did you choose to follow your vision, v.s. your career as a performer on stage? I know internally you feel your vision is difficult to live sometimes, but is that a choice that you made?

It wasn't a total choice. You see in my life I got on the dance track, and at the end of four or five years, I knew I wasn't going to make it as a ballet dancer, or a modern dancer, because I didn't have what they need in the body size etc., so it was a bit disheartening that period, and then it was like a honing in on what it was I could do. So I woke up to music and theatre, which is a joy. I was trying to figure out where to go, and out of all those moments comes the possibility. There were always people and things coming into play, so there was always a certain element of what I feel is chance. I think it was then I decided to leave the mainstream theatres. I just wasn't interested in the theatre I had been seeing, and the theatre I had been doing. I wasn't that interested in it.

So it was one of those things of not fitting "the body" of mainstream theatre - of testing your own boundaries, your own body.

Yes... yes... I think that's very true. I didn't fit, and there seemed to be no place for me. I think this system is set up in a certain way, and certain rules have to apply and all the rest of that, and my work, the work that I wanted to do was to engage more of a Native audience because there were no Native audiences. I wanted them to see what I was doing and I wanted to share the art with my community. I mean, I was in The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, the lead was played by a white actress and I was cast as her understudy, and ultimately, I got to play her sister- so I got the last word. So anyways, I talked with the General Manager because some of the people I had met during the research for Rita Joe were living in the Skid Row area, and other areas in Edmonton, and out of there came a dance group, an Indian Cree dance group, the White Braids Society. I had a talk with the GM about what was going to be in the lobby for the pre-show, he sought me out and together we planned dance and drumming events, craft tables, etc. I was very happy to do that. That's the kind of thing that I've always loved to do. I've always done it without very much thought, just make some little event happen. That was in 1978, so it's been more than 20 years since that happened.

Do you wonder, "what would of happened if I had chosen the path of a film star, or the Native actor". Do you think "what if"?

Sometimes, but not often. Maybe more often now because I'm in the middle of my life and I know I have to create the next half, and I have certain security issues, and I have to think about my health. I start to think about, "what is it I will do and what do I regret about the past", "maybe I should pick that up and do that"... something that I've done in the past, but you know, just pick it up and complete it. So there are moments when I think about that. I've found that there's a superficiality about that world. It really stood out for me, or pushed me away, it repelled me...repelled me, and many times years later I would just berate myself because I wasn't tough enough to deal with that but I am tough. There are some things that just do not make me happy. I couldn't buy it.

Do you think that your contribution to the arts, and specifically to the arts in performance, has been recognized? Do you feel your contribution has been acknowledged?

Well...this is where my ego comes in. I think there's ways of recognition that I haven't achieved, that I would like to achieve. There is a feeling - just faint little images, that I'm starting to feel maybe in the last year, more appreciation for my contribution. I can hardly say "my contribution". (laughter) I think "What the hell did I do?" It cost me a lot of time, money but I'm glad I did it. I really had some exceptional experiences. When I was studying dance at Grant McEwan, I was very interested in spiritual things. I was trying to grasp what that was. When I was a dancer, I had just come out of a horrible time out of one of my first depressions. I came out of that, and I realized that what I really wanted to do, or to be, was really "whole". So in a way, my whole movement through my life has been to "be well". At that time, when I was a dancer, I learnt the teachings of my spiritual teachers: the four directions. I wanted to integrate, the mental, the spiritual, the physical, the emotional. I wasn't sure how I was going to do it but I learned about those directions and the significance of them and I really loved that. I loved being part of a whole plan. My vision is very expansive, and part of it is knowing that you're contributing to the well being of the planet. So now I'm speaking from this age, but then all I was thinking about was myself, healing myself. So my work, or my art practice is really about healing. I know that when I performing there are times when something happens that has nothing to so with me, but I'm part of it. It's the most wonderful thing. I was sitting on the suitcase in Moonlodge, performing in a community centre. Some people were sitting on the floor, and some were sitting in chairs, and as I was finishing my song, this little baby began crawling towards me. She looks at me and she keeps crawling toward me. I pick her up and hold her in my arms and finish this show singing with that child in my arms. The spontaneity of it was so fabulous and I was part of it. I know that lots of things like that happen. I look and watch for them. They are rare, they're beautiful, and it affirms who you are, and what you have to offer.

Do you feel that this momentum of self-recognition has given you the strength in the movement of your art, your vision? In the world of theatre?

I just hoped that one day I would feel satisfied. Satisfied in the long hours, and all the rest of it that goes along with being an artist, being an artist who's trying to galvanize communities. And in a way, it's felt like it hasn't happened. So for a long time I just felt like I was a failure because I wasn't able to do what I set out to do. So I've learned a few things about failure and how to move beyond that... where I feel... well... I gave all I had to give. Now I feel I just need to know inside that I gave, and know that perhaps my victories or acknowledgements, come from some other work, or some future work. I don't think that my parents thought I failed - I don't know that for sure. I think that all the communities I worked in gave me something. They gave me a reason to keep going. They gave me a lot of love and support. I really enjoyed their company, and I really enjoyed that work. As for the theatre, I can't really speak for the theatre because I haven't been fully engaged in it for a very long time. I create and self produce my own work. I believe that many mainstream theatre companies are entirely able to welcome diverse cultures in but there seems to be an unwillingness. They are all run by the status quo. As well, there has to be a willingness for people to be engaged. Our own people need to gain experience and organize so they can create their own work within and without the mainstream.

What do you think people's biggest misconception about you is?

Misconceptions... somehow... well... somehow people seem to think that I'm rich and famous, and I'm neither. I struggle along like any other artist. I have no administration. I have had to learn how to do all the administration myself. Well, that's good for the management part of my mind. As for acting, I don't get as many offers anymore. It's time consuming just keeping my own work going. I haven't been walking a high profile road lately. Choosing my own path has been my priority for a long time. Most Native theatre was happening in Toronto but I couldn't deal with Toronto. I could deal with it now, but not then. I needed to be in wider, more open spaces and so I stayed in the west where I grew up. Still, with all the travel throughout Native communities my name is known for the work I do. It's difficult work but it has been very rewarding.