Native Earth Performing Arts is excited to announce the 39th edition of Weesageechak Begins to Dance will take place November 20-29, 2026 at Aki Studio and Bevy in Toronto. Weesageechak Begins to Dance is Native Earth’s annual performing arts festival showcasing new works and works-in-development by Indigenous artists across Turtle Island and beyond. New this year, the festival will include WAAWOONO (she or he howls), a Weesageechak Begins to Dance Revue full of music and comedy. Held on November 28 at Bevy with comedian/host Meg MacKay, singer/songwriter GAELN, drag artist Ozzii Versace and DJ KIMIWVN.

Now, in its 39th edition, eight Creators from Canada and Australia have been invited to showcase new and developing works at the festival that put Indigenous artists and their creative impulses at the forefront, shifting the expectations of Indigenous stories in the performing arts landscape.

Weesageechak will feature two presentations of The Lottery by Waverley Stanley Jr, IXKAME: Baile de los ancestros by B'atz' Recinos, [soft waters] by Erica Wilson, and The 7 Fires: A New Musical by Dillan Meighan Chiblow at Aki Studio, plus two Northern Indigenous Play Readings presented by Gwaandak Theatre from Whitehorse, Yukon.

Guided by this year’s festival theme of RESURGENCE, Weesageechak Begins to Dance 39 celebrates the ever-urgent necessity for Indigenous storytelling in an inspirational and revitalizing gathering of stories, performances, and conversations.