Enjoying the day a multicultural way
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/06/2011 (5396 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Winnipeggers enjoyed warm weather and entertainment with an international flair Saturday evening as Multiculturalism Day events invaded The Forks.
Performances and exhibits by artists from all over the world drew crowds to the central court.
But it was 33-year-old Brian Clyne who brought the house down with his acrobatic and athletic traditional Plains Indian hoop-dancing.
Clyne’s performance, accompanied with vocals and drumming, wowed audiences who watched him manoeuvre his body through 18 hoops forming intricate shapes representing his family and ancestors.
“This is one of the oldest original dances,” said Clyne. “It brought healing to (the) people.”
“They used the hoops as a medicine wheel,” said Clyne who is part Cree and part Ojibwa. “They used the spirits in nature to heal themselves.”
But even when he’s not dancing, Clyne likes to heal people. He’s training to become a firefighter and paramedic.
The veteran dancer has been enjoying a hectic festival season.
“It’s been my busiest few weeks,” laughed an exhausted Clyne. “Summer’s coming soon.”
While musical performances were the order of the day, students from Gordon Bell High School made a particularly poignant contribution to the festivities — creating artwork inspired by the countries they emigrated from.
Some of the works hinted at the difficult journey they had undertaken to reach Canada.
“I painted a picture of everything I saw when I woke up in the morning in our refugee camp,” wrote Has Moo of her creation about her country of birth, Thailand. “I would see beautiful flowers, the bright sun… birds in the sky and a river flowing beside the camp.”
Madhieh Hasseni, whose first language is Farsi, wrote a poetic description of her sculpture of a hand reaching out: “I painted the flag of Afghanistan and a star on each fingertip. Mountains and a desert, on the back of my hand.”
“These kids are from different parts of the world,” said Antoinette Zloty, spokeswoman for the Congress of Black Women of Manitoba, which hosted the exhibit. “These are newcomer students from the Congo, Somalia and elsewhere.”
About 15 cultural groups performed for audiences Saturday, representing Franco-Manitobans and Métis, as well as groups from Thailand and Latin America.
meghan.potkins@winnipegfreepress.com
