Multiculturalism in movement: How dancers use beats to honour their background
From Bollywood to Highland, Saskatoon dancers show off their culture
In the spirit of Canada Day, CBC Saskatchewan is showing off the province's multiculturalism through people who are expressing their heritage through traditional dance.
Videos by Chanss Lagaden.
'We don't feel the distance': Bollywood
Listening to movie soundtracks growing up in India, Sneha Chakraborty wasn't just enjoying music, she was connecting to a big part of her culture.
"The Bollywood music is famous. I guess we just live with it. It's part of our life."
Chakraborty thinks she was about three years old when she began dancing.
When she got married and moved to Saskatoon, her husband encouraged her to set up a studio and give lessons. She said dacning in Saskatoon to the latest tracks released in India connects her with where she grew up.
"We don't feel the distance anymore, so it's like the world is small now. We believe that we are home."
Dancing has other benefits, too.
"Dance is a very, very good form of expressing my feelings and to stay fit and to be happy."
Creating an identity: Scottish Highland
For Katie Spence, Highland dance is a family affair. The 16-year-old's mother teaches the dance and her father is a drummer.
Spence describes the Scottish community in Saskatoon as a family itself, full of great friends who encouraged her to continue as a dancer after an early start in Yellowknife.
Spence, who dances with the Duguid Highland Dance group, said doing Highland dance creates an identity for her, connecting her to her heritage all while putting a smile on her face.
"It's just part of who I am."
Wearing a green tartan, she demonstrated the Highland fling. Her wool socks and black shoes sprung up from the concrete of Saskatoon's Vimy Memorial Bandstand as she lept to the sound of bagpipes.
"It is said that when dancing the dance, you are dancing on a shield, and in the middle, there is a spike," Spence said. "And you try and dance on one spot so you don't end up with a spike in the foot."
'It's all about the passion for our culture': Mexican folklore
Growing up in Mexico, Karla Fonseca had to learn traditional folklore dance as a requirement in school.
"It's either a thing that you like it or don't like it, but you have to do it," Fonseca said.
She enjoyed it, and continued dancing through high school.
After moving to Saskatoon in 2010, she learned of one group that performed the traditional dance locally and joined them in 2012.
"It's just a way to keep connected with my roots, with my culture," she said.
Being part of Grupo Maya Latin Dance Studio also helps Fonseca teach dance traditions to new generations of Mexican children growing up in Saskatchewan.
"To me, it's very important to share not just the joy and the passion, but also the culture, and then we can keep it alive."
Fonseca's bright blue dress stood out against the Vimy Memorial Bandstand as she demonstrated the dance Jarabe Tapatio, better known as the Mexican Hat Dance.
She explained that the dance, as with many other old Mexican dances, is about flirting.
"The woman shows the beautiful outside and inside of her, and the happiness. And that's why our dresses are very colourful and the dances are full of energy: it's all about the passion for our culture."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
