Dance culture

Dance Culture is the first in my new series of zines called Ramifications about culture and natural heritage. It is based on my exhibition of dance performance portraits at cSPACE Marda Loop during Exposure, Alberta’s Photography Festival in February 2024. You can view and purchase the zine at Betula Books.

Intangible Cultural Heritage

Cultural heritage is often first connected with tangible objects-ancient monuments and artifacts from the history of civilization. But it is far more than that, including crafts, traditional knowledge, rituals and artistic performances including dance.

UNESCO has recognized these “traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants” as Intangible Cultural Heritage. We can watch or perform the steps of a dance, hear, feel or play the accompanying music, observe or wear the clothes and learn about the connected stories. Going deeper, dance is embedded in our connected human system, a part of the process of knowledge acquisition and transmission through the generations. Photography and filmmaking can contribute to our appreciation of the value that this intangible cultural heritage has to offer to all of us in all of our communities.

The exhibition Dance Culture consisted of four large images, each supported by a 3×3 grid of photos of cultural dances performed by the Latino community in Calgary. For many years, I have photographed these performances at Expo Latino, Fiestaval, Calgary Stampede Parade, and other events in the city. Most of these images are also shown in my zine of the same name.

Flamenco

Maria Regnier, a Flamenco dancer who performs with Notas de 4, is featured on the front cover of Dance Culture. Also featured are Fiona Malena, Anastassiia Alexander and Carmen Romero at Expo Latino. Jessica Peñalver-Côté, Jane Ogilvie, Francesca Canalizo, Annette Morcos and Tosh Hayashi (guitar), performed with Flamenco Esencia at Aura Calgary.

UNESCO inscribed Flamenco into its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010, saying, “It is strongly rooted in its community, strengthening its cultural identity and continuing to be passed down from one generation to the next.”

You can read more about Flamenco in my article Spanish Steps. Here is one of several short films I have made about Flamenco.

Danza de los Chales et al.

The traditional dance featured in the next photograph at the exhibition is performed by Carolina Vazquez, a member of the Calgary Salvadorian Folklore Association (centre photo, below). The Danza de los Chales holds significant cultural importance in the western region of her native country. Her traditional Izalqueña clothes with their colourful woven cloth and embroidered skirt is a celebration of the Nawat Pipil tribe’s rich heritage.

The associated photo matrix (above) shows a variety of performers at Expo Latino, western Canada’s biggest Latino cultural expression held annually on Calgary’s Princes Island in August. Included are performances by Pasión Boliviana, Paula Regehr (The Samba Queen), Mictlán Collective, from Mexico, Así es Colombia, Cuban dancers and the Latin Dance Showcase.

Capoeira

Members of Capoeira Aché Brasil Calgary performing at Expo Latino are featured in Dance Culture. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian cultural practice, also recognized by UNESCO (in 2014) for its intangible cultural heritage. UNESCO describes the capoeira circle as “a place where knowledge and skills are learned by observation and imitation. It also functions as an affirmation of mutual respect between communities, groups and individuals and promotes social integration and the memory of resistance to historical oppression.” Featured below: Professor Sua & alunas (students) Viola, Melodia, Garça & Cereja.

Is it a dance or is it a fight?

Is it a dance or is it a fight? Well, it’s both of those things with a performance of rotating pairs wrapped around by a circle of singing and chanting companions. The music comes from percussion such as the atabaque (tall drum) and pandeiro (tambourine-like instrument) and the berimbau, a single stringed bow with gourd resonator, often played with a stone. Below is my short film from Capoeira Aché Brasil Calgary’s performance at Expo Latino in 2023.

Raíces del Perú

Patricia Bernal of Raíces del Perú featured in the final photograph of my exhibition at cSPACE Marda Loop (see also, centre photo below). She is performing La Diablada Puneña, a brightly expressive dance from the city of Puno, located in the Andes on the shores of Lake Titicaca, South America’s largest lake.

Raíces del Perú, based in Calgary, perform a variety of traditional dances from their native country. Some of these are included in the photo matrix, such as La Marinera Norteña, from the Pacific coast, La Marinera Ayacuchana, from Ayacucho in the Andes, the Huaylarsh, from the Mantaro Valley in the Andes, and the Danza de los Tucumayos, from the Amazon rainforest. The cultural group has also performed La Huaconada, a cultural dance I have written about and filmed in its original location, the town of Mito, Peru. Below is my short film of Raíces del Perú performing La Marinera Norteña and La Diablada Puneña at the Calgary Stampede Parade in 2023.

More culture

Here is a short film made in collaboration with the Latin House/G-House music of Niteshade. The collaboration features his track Bailar, out on Diverge Records.

Please visit Betula Books (click the button below) and my photo website to see the photos featured in the exhibition/zine and other images about culture and nature.