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The Come and Dance: an Aboriginal Dance Festival and the 6th Annual Louis Riel Day Celebrations were a success!
We had a great start on Louis Riel Day, Wednesday, November 16, with a blessing at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre, led by Tom McCallum. We then moved to the Scotiabank Dance Centre on Thursday and Friday, where the audience had a chance to see the best Aboriginal dance Vancouver has to offer.
Both traditional and contemporary works were presented by various groups and artists including Raven Spirit Dance, Dancers of Damelahamid, Compaigni V'ni Dansi and Byron Chief Moon. We also had the presence of Paula Ross, talking about her award-winning journey through professional dance in Canada and a chance to watch one of her works, performed by dancer M. Pyress Flame.
Saturday, we returned to the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre for the festival's grand finale. Tom McCallum, with his beautiful words, was back. We also had Jules Chartrand reciting Louis Riel poetry, an awe-inspiring performance by Andrea Menard and, of course, a lot of live fiddle music and jigging with the Louis Riel Metis Dancers.
“I have received so much gratitude, love and Thanks from the Artists and the audiences, who expressed what an amazing event this was and what an amazing feeling of community this festival brought to us all.
Words cannot express our gratitude for the gifts of healing, bonding, love, unity, pride and connection this festival has brought to our people.”
Yvonne Chartrand
The Compaigni V'ni Dansi would like to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who came to our festival, to all of the artists, all the volunteers who gave us a big help over the four days of the festival and the Scotiabank Dance Centre and the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre for all the support.
See you next year!
