Audiences invited to feast on Indigenous culture in Métis cabaret show
Artist Andrea Menard aims to boost reconciliation, education and hope with show Rubaboo, which means 'soup'
A new type of performance is taking the stage in Vancouver to showcase Métis songs and stories.
An acoustic band will join Vancouver-based Métis artist Andrea Menard to perform Rubaboo, a Métis cabaret performance featuring songs that explore themes of unity, love and truth and reconciliation.
"'Rubaboo' is a Michif word that means 'soup' … rubaboo is me and it's the M étis culture because we're also a mix of different languages, different locations, different peoples," said Menard.
"I wanted that word, that flavour and that spirit of the Michif meal, feast to come together into a show."
Menard says the show is her way of guiding people to "walk toward reconciliation" through music and singing.
She says she hopes the production will make audiences fall in love with Indigenous culture and art, and "with the idea of there being hope, of there being a chance for us to do this together."
Healing and hope
Menard describes Rubaboo as a mélange of artistic elements that form her version of a cabaret performance, which traditionally comprises music, song, dance or drama and is held in a dining room or pub.
"I'm calling it a cabaret because it's storytelling, it's singing, it's sacred," she said.
She said the 90-minute performance came about when Dennis Garnhum, artistic director of the Grand Theatre in London, Ont., offered her an opening for a new show.
Menard adds she wasn't interested in creating a show for the sake of it, but decided to use the opportunity to further reconciliation and educate people about Métis history.
"There's still so many people who don't know anything about the residential school system… of why the Métis people resisted in 1885," she said, referring to the Northwest Rebellion against the Canadian government.
"I wanted to be somebody who was furthering education and expanding compassion."
Menard adds much of the show's production took place during the pandemic, which inspired her to put together a show to inspire and spread feelings of joy.
"It's about healing our collective wounds… I want people to walk away with hope," she said.
"I want to leave this world a better place than when I came into it, and the best way I know how is through telling songs and stories," she added.
WATCH | Andrea Menard shares the inspiration behind Rubaboo:
Room to share
Garnhum says Rubaboo tells a variety of stories using the natural elements of earth, wind, fire and water.
But the heart of the show really comes from Menard's own lived experience, he says.
"It's very clear to me that Andrea wants to be a bridge… She wants people to come gather around and hear her story. It's her turn," Garnhum said.
"You get to listen to someone's personal experience of living on this planet and you get to connect with Andrea. Not an idea, but a person."
He adds it's important to give Indigenous artists room to share their art and stories with a variety of audiences.
The show, which opened in London, Ont., earlier this year, is currently playing at Vancouver's Granville Island Stage until April 30. Garnhum says the show will be in Edmonton next year with plans to expand further in the future.
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With files from The Early Edition