We danced for those that can’t dance, those that are no longer with us, and for those to come.
We danced to show that we are still here, we are the unbroken link that the colonial project attempted to break and failed to do.

This thesis proposal describes a research-creation process focusing on Michif language embodiment through dance. This blended research-creation approach is grounded in Keeoukaywin, the Visiting Way methodology (Gaudet, 2018), and Nêhiyaw Kiskêyihtamowin (Plains Cree Knowledges) of relational ethics involving an Indigenous research paradigm of truth-telling, holism, reciprocity, relational accountability, conversational method, and storywork. The process of cultural reclamation offers possibilities to the many generations responding to colonial violence and resisting by going underground (Richardson, 2004), a period referred to as the “Michif underground years.” It is one of many projects happening inside and outside the homeland that will help repair the fragmentation brought on by historical and ongoing colonial violence on our Michif peoples.