Four Strong Seasons

Four Strong Seasons is an ode to the quiet beauty between hardships, the lives of the people in our city and the natural landscapes that inspire us towards a brighter future. Aela, a young Calgary transplant, is the fictional protagonist of this multi-disciplinary work that encompasses dance, music and puppeteering. We follow her as she finds her own connection to the land.

The creative team reached out to Calgary’s citizenry, asking them how they relate to the natural world around Calgary and what home means to them. Some eighty submissions — ranging from poetic pieces by artists to the heartfelt truths of children — informed the creation of Four Strong Seasons. Characters relate to different weather events, including droughts, floods, short winters and wildfires. The natural world transcends words, with non-verbal storytelling exploring what phenomena like chinook winds and birds in flight look like.