Marika Schwandt is an actor, dancer, and playwright whose work brings unique truths to light and incites transformative healing. Marika works hard to channel the strength and beauty that she sees within and around her into creative, original collaborations. Her work incorporates cultural practices such as drum and dance; ancestors’ stories; and healing ritual – traditional knowledge, medicines, and prayer. Her recent and ongoing projects embody the complicated dynamics that exist between Black women, First Nations women, women of colour, and white women in present-day Canada. In her creative process, Marika calls upon the resources and knowledge of the cultural communities that she identifies with or that have influenced her worldview (Caribbean, Anishnawbe and Metis) and holds herself accountable to her intended audience: people who have not necessarily been exposed to political ideas but who struggle with the tangible implications of settler colonization in their day-to-day lives. Marika’s training has taken her to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Winnipeg’s School of Contemporary Dance, the University of Alberta, the Second City Training Centre, George Brown College, Equity Showcase Theatre, b.current’s Professional Training Program, Theatre Ontario, Volcano Theatre, and the Collective of Black Artists.

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