Dancing to the Same Rhythm

Blue Skies Music Festival has been creating magic since 1974 in the wilderness of Ontario near Clarendon.  I was lucky enough to spend part of last weekend in the midst of this magic.  After leaving the Trans Canada Highway and driving down a curving dirt road we came to the front gate of the festival. Volunteers helped people to park in fields and on the road and then the walking begins.  Very few motorized vehicles are allowed on the property so the space feels safe and welcoming.  The main stage was at the bottom of a meadow surrounded by trees with tents set up for camping all around the perimeter.

The first thing I noticed was that there were children running everywhere, having a great time.  The huge lawn was set up with a volleyball net, a Frisbee area and a playground for the kids.  There were older folks, young parents, teens and kids all co-existing quite naturally.  There was an absence of people walking around staring at their phones which was happily replaced by people actually talking to the people they were with.

Lots of tie-dyed shirts, aging hippies, young people with, yes flowers in their hair and a very joyful atmosphere is what made it different from other festivals that I have been to.  There were good performers, mediocre performers and some great performers on the stage and lots of interesting workshops in the other areas.

But one of the highlights for me was the arrival of a drumming group who are situated in Ottawa, the Remesha Drums from Burundi  You can see a youtube video of them here.

The men processed down the hill carrying huge drums that weighed over one hundred pounds each on their heads.  They played the drums as they walked.  As they got closer, the sound grew and grew.  People came running over to watch and when the drummers got to the bottom of the hill, they formed a circle.  Taking the drums from their heads, they drummed and danced with athletic prowess, jumping into the air, doing back flips and smiling widely the whole time. 

The crowd was mesmerized and responded with loud applause and whooping.  Then it was the women of the group who danced, wearing flowing white dresses.  They invited first children and then women to come and dance with them.  Before you knew it, everyone was dancing with them, arms up in the air, smiling broadly and moving with the rhythms of Africa.

This, I thought, is the gift that immigration brings to us here in Canada.  Here we are in the wilderness, dancing to these ancient rhythms that have come across the ocean to us.  The Remesha Drummers got us dancing together, all in the same rhythm and the people loved it.  These people from Burundi shared their culture with us, opened up a space and welcomed us in.  I hope their experience of being in 

Canada is as welcoming.

Earlier in the day, the Smoke Trail Drum and Dance Group  from Alderville First Nation demonstrated Northern Traditional Powwow drumming and dancing.  At the end of their sharing, they invited everyone to join in the Round Dance.  Hundreds of people joined the line that snaked across the lawn and eventually turned into a circle.  We were invited by the lead dancer to run into the middle of the circle holding hands and giving a big whoop.  We did this three times and once again the people loved it.  The Smoke Trail Dancers shared with us their culture that comes from this land and has survived ongoing attempts to make it disappear.  And we are so much the richer for being able to share in this ancient culture.  We were welcomed into the Round Dance on this land that we were welcomed onto.  I thought about how the drum is the heartbeat and how when we dance together our hearts beat as one.

The third experience of dancing that I watched on the weekend was the old fashioned Square Dance that originated in England and France.  Once again the people joyfully entered into the sets that the caller called.  The fiddle music and the smiles on the faces of the dancers was a joyful scene.  It was beautiful just to watch and I'll bet it was even better for the dancers.

What I observed was this:  When we are welcomed into the music and cultures of other people, we very quickly become united, our hearts beating as one as our feet move to the same rhythm.  And it is fun!  Dancing together makes us feel connected, or rather, it reminds us that we are connected. We are very lucky in Canada to be able to share in so many cultures, to have such a rich human experience.  Once we have danced together, how can we not care for each ? How can we fell unconnected?  Perhaps we need more dancing.

So next time you get an opportunity to join in dancing like this, take it.  Don't worry about how you look because no one is looking.  They are just feeling the universal rhythm and becoming one with it, one with each other.  But don't take my word for it.  Try it for yourself!