Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Summer Transitioning to Fall

So, summer is almost over. Tomorrow, we will have our last outdoor session. It has been fun dancing at Harrison Park. We have drawn attention from curious public every week. While most people just stood and watched us from a distances, a lady actually joined in on a few dances. It was Summerfolk weekend. This festival visitor from Guelph was pleased to find us at the park where she was camping for the weekend. "It has given her festival weekend a nice start"! We have had teenagers and children who were too shy to join us by tried their very best to imitate our moves.

The next three weeks, we will be visiting nursing homes in Owen Sound. demonstrations in public events aside, this is going to be the first time Grey Bruce International Folk Dancers perform for an audience. We hope to get some old folks up and dancing with us!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Let's Get Ready For One World Festival!

Well, tomorrow is the day! At 10am and 11am, we will be leading workshops at One World Festival Grey Bruce. The Dancers are going demonstrate a few dances --- Ciuleandra, Hine Ma Tov, Sapri Tama and Yedid Nefesh --- and teach participants some beginner level numbers. Below are videos of dancers we will be teaching, just in case anybody wants to learn it ahead of time :)

Alunelul(Romania)


Kambos(Greece)


Kulsko Oro(Bulgaria)


Shibolet Bassadeh(Israel)


Zemir Atik(Israel)

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Tees with Logos

Yesterday, Sharon spent another 2 hours helping me create more logos and make the t-shirts. Together with the logo without graphic image --- the one on the back of the hoodie, there are three logo designs available.

The nice thing about getting the samples done at her store is that, now that she has the logos on file, GBIFD members can just go to The Great Canadian T Shirt Company and pick a t-shirt/sweater of their preferred styles, colors and sizes. They can even choose colors for the logos.

--
Music and Dance is what makes my world

Friday, May 3, 2013

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

It's Spring Time

Well, it does not look like it, but today is actually first day of spring.

I thought I would share this dance with you: Garoon from Israel. I learned it when I was in secondary school in Hongkong back a long while ago. Naturally, we have a Chinese title for the dance --- Spring Time.

Last summer, GBIFD did Mayim in one of our summer outdoor sessions in the hopes of its bringing us some rain. Well, it worked a week later! So, maybe, just maybe, if we do Garoon, spring weather will eventually arrive.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Yang Ge(rice sprouts song)

is a form of Chinese folk dance originating from the Song Dynasty. It is very popular in northern China and is one of the most representative form of folk arts. It is popular in both the countryside and cities in northern China. It is especially popular among older people. Crowds of people will go out into the street in the evening and dance together in a line or a circle formation.
Some dancers dress up in red, green, or other colorful costumes, and typically use a red silk ribbon around the waist. They will swing their bodies to music played by drum, trumpet, and gong. More people will join in as they see Yang Ge going on and dance along. Some dancers use props like the waistdrum, dancing fan, fake donkey, or litter. In different areas Yangge is performed in different styles, but all types express happiness.
In the 1940s, the Chinese Communist Party adopted the dance as a means of rallying village support, and it is sometimes known as "reform yangge".

Monday, February 18, 2013

At One Billion Rising Owen Sound

On Valentine's Day, we participated in One Billion Rising Owen Sound. The whole event was live-streamed and recorded. Our session starts at around 56' into the video. Most Dancers came out to the event to lead the dances, including a couple of adult beginners students! It was enjoyable to dance with a large group and we look forward to doing more demonstration and bringing more people into our "circle" of international folk dancing.