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Anybody feeling a bit Chile in here?

Dance troupe itself is a mini-Folklorama

By: Mary Agnes Welch

Posted: 08/19/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Dancers — including honorary Chileans — wrap up a week of performances Saturday night. ( DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

One was born in Kabul. One's Filipino. And one is half Guatemalan, half El Salvadorean.

But this week, they're all from Chile, and they've got the jaunty feathered hats to prove it.

Three of the four local male dancers at Folklorama's Chile Lindo pavilion aren't really Chilean at all. They just got strong-armed into joining the dance troupe by a pair of Chilean sisters, old friends from high school.

"We didn't have any boys," said Daniela Ulloya-Juarez, one of the leaders of the local Chilean dance troupe. Ulloya-Juarez has done traditional folk dancing since she was a toddler, but most of the Chilean boys she learned with lost interest in their early 20s. That's when she turned to her rainbow of friends from Kildonan East Collegiate.

"I just thought it might be fun," said Ares Sharifzadah, who came to Winnipeg from Afghanistan a dozen years ago. He hadn't done any traditional dancing before, and his decision to join the Chilean group surprised his family.

"At first, they were like, 'Really?', said Sharifzadah.

But his family quickly came around and planned to attend the troupe's last show Saturday night. That's when Folklorama wrapped up its 43rd year.

Full attendance numbers won't be out until Monday, but the 43 pavilions typically experience a combined 420,000 visits. Turnout this year is on target, organizers said Saturday night.

Joining Sharifzadah and Ulloya-Juarez on stage Saturday night was Kirk Salcedo, who is Filipino, and whose friends joked that joining a Chilean dance troupe was just weird enough to be something he'd do.

Rounding out the honorary Chileans was Andy Guardado, whose parents are from Central America. He never even considered doing El Slavadorean or Guatemalan folk dancing, but Sharifzadah roped him into coming to a rehearsal and, before Guardado knew it, he was co-opted into the Chilean troupe.

"All Hispanic countries, it's pretty much the same -- the food's the same, the music's the same," he said.

Still, it was tricky getting some of the moves down, including the foot-stomping zapateo dance and a sensual version of the national dance, the cueca.

The troupe has no formal coach.

"YouTube is our teacher," joked Ulloya-Juarez.

But, since the Chile Lindo pavilion opened, the young dancers have been practising daily with the pavilion's other dance troupe, the Arcoiris folk dancers from Chile. The Arcoiris troupe has been tightening and cleaning up the local group's moves and was surprised to find so many non-Chileans perfecting the steps.

"They were pretty excited," said Ulloya-Juarez. "It makes us proud to get others involved."

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 19, 2012 A7

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