Great showing for Tetewatierónnion
Courtesy Karonhianónhnha Tsi Ionterihwaienstáhkhwa
As part of Cultural Awareness Month, the Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language & Cultural Center (KOR) held its yearly Tetewatierónnion variety show at the Knights of Columbus on Tuesday, drawing over 200 people to the hall.
While in the past Tetewatierónnion was held during the Winter Carnival, this year marked the first time the show was tied in with KOR’s April activities.
Atewenniióhstha Jacobs, curriculum resource producer for KOR, said that having the show in April was beneficial to the performances.
“I think this year was probably more successful than the last, because they had more time to plan after Christmas,” said Jacobs, who helped organize the show.
Groups of all ages made up the eight performances of the night. Performers included students from Karonhianónhnha Tsi Ionterihwaienstáhkhwa elementary school and the Karihwanó:ron immersion program two Ratiwennahní:rats language classes, the Onkwawén:na Kentyóhkwa’ adult immersion school from Six Nations of the Grand River, and even the Kahnawake Fire Brigade (KFB) – all in Kanien’kéha.
The audience was even treated to a live performance of Tóta Tánon Ohkwá:ri,
“I thought the KOR hosted another great Tetewatierónnion for the community and guests from Six Nations and from Kanesatake. It was a lot of fun and educational,” said Martin Akwiranoron Loft, whose daughter Carlee Loft performed a Muppets skit with the Ratiwennahní:rats B class.
Attendance was free, with donations encouraged; the donations would go towards supporting Lenore Angus and her family after a fire destroyed their home. At time of writing, the amount of money raised had not been disclosed.
Courtesy Martin Akwiranoron Loft Facebook Video
To get this level of participation, and as strong of an attendance on Tuesday night as they had, meant a lot to the KOR.
“It was special, because variety shows, and oftentimes any plays or concerts in town, they are done in English,” said Jacobs.
This was also the first time they were able to offer a cash prize of $1,000 to the winner, which was the Fire Brigade for a recreation of the CPR training scene from the hit sitcom The Office.
“We are first responders, so obviously, once a year we have to do our CPR training. But, we wanted to kind of bring humour to it,” said the KFB’s Heather McGregor, who was approached by KOR to participate in the show.
“In the TV show, there’s a scene in there where they do CPR, but it’s a comedy skit. So we decided to do that, but we kind of brought our own thing to it. We wore our own uniforms, and we brought our own little spin on it.”
Kaycee Diabo translated the script into Kanien’kéha, with her, McGregor, Rotshennoni Two Axe, Robert Deom, Reaghan Tarbell, and Brandon Chuby performing.
McGregor said that although she is not used to performing in front of a crowd in English, let alone in Kanien’kéha, they worked well together and put on a good show.
“English is English, but in Kanien’kéha, how you kind of have to practice a little bit more. You have to get the pronunciation just right,” said McGregor.
She said the KFB did not go into the event expecting to win at all, but they were happy they did.
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“It was a big surprise. We’re all pretty excited about that, we put some good work into it, and it paid off for us,” said McGregor.
Jacobs said that the performers did an amazing job, and thanked them along with their MC, Joe Rice, for hosting, as well as Creekside Convenience for donating popcorn.
