SKéN:NEN: With Santee Smith
Live on CIUT 89.5 FM
Airing Date: January 17, 2026
Host: Nicole Inica Hamilton
Featured Guest(s): Santee Smith
This week on Turn Out Radio, featured guest Santee Smith (Artistic Director of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre) shares thoughts about embodied communication, storytelling, and the premiere of Kaha:wi Dance Theatre’s SKéN:NEN, an immersive dance performance with a powerful narrative that is rooted in cultural knowledge that transcends time and place. Presenting at Art in Action: Climate (AiA), a new, Niagara-wide festival of arts, ideas and industry hosted by First Ontario Performing Arts Centre.
About Santee Smith
Santee Smith is an internationally recognized leader in the performing arts, a multidisciplinary artist and producer from the Kahnyen’kehàka (Mohawk) Nation, Turtle Clan from Ohswé:ken / Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario. She is one of Canada’s leading dance artists, and holds McMaster University degrees in Physical Education and Psychology along with a Master of Arts in Dance from York University.
Recovering from two broken legs, she completed six years of training at Canada’s National Ballet School, undertook theatre training and earned her degrees. She returned to dance in 1996 as a choreographer and dedicated six years to create and produce her first dance work, Kaha:wi, a family creation story. In 2005, she founded the Kaha:wi Dance Theatre with a vision to explore the intersection of Indigenous and new performance, international Indigenous collaborations and training. Through her research and creative practise, she is a strong voice for Indigenous dramaturgy, process and advocacy.
Santee Smith’s artistic work speaks about identity and Indigenous narratives. Her body of work includes 14 productions and numerous short works which tour nationally and internationally. Her commissions include choreography for the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company, North American Indigenous Games, among others.
Smith is a sought after teacher and speaker on the performing arts and Indigenous performance and culture, most recently at Stratford Festival. Her life and works have been the topic of TV series and films aired on CBC, NFB, APTN and PBS (US), and most recently on CBC Arts – The Move II.
Santee is the 19th Chancellor of McMaster University.
