Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo

Artistic Director/Creator
I Dream in Wampum

Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo is a member of the Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk) nation of Kahnawake. She now resides in Montreal, where she is the artistic director and choreographer for A’nó:wara Dance Theatre. Recipient of the Clifford E. Lee Choreographic Award 2025 from the Banff Centre, she has been a choreographer and performer for over 30 years, creating shows that bring Indigenous themes, stories, and perspectives to light. She achieves this by combining powwow, Haudenosaunee, and contemporary dance styles to create an artistic fusion that appeals to a diverse range of audiences. Her dance show, Sky Dancers, won Outstanding Touring Production in the Dora Mavor Moore Awards 2022 and she was also the winner of the prestigious Prix de la danse de Montréal for most notable dancer of the year in 2021. Diabo takes pride in sharing her culture and performs across Canada and internationally. Her work has been seen live at National Arts Centre, Festival Quartiers Danse, Prismatic Arts Festival, Native Earth Performing Arts, Matriarchs Uprising, FODAR, Le Diamant, and Waterproof Festival(France); as well as on film on PULSE (APTN), Le Grand Solstice (Radio Canada), Telling Our Stories (Radio Canada), and Indigenous Day Live (APTN), to name a few.  Barbara also collaborates with several organizations with whom she helps educate populations, create “safe spaces” and support Indigenous artists around the world. Diabo performs and creates for generations to come, to honour, for her ancestors, for a sense of community, for those who cannot dance, to inspire, to communicate, to encourage cultural pride, and to uplift spirits.