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the markham economist sun dance saturday june 24 2006 19 stere by simone joseph staff writer five men are seated around a drum in georgina islands community centre chanting ayayay as the men chant in the native lan guage of ojibwa york region public and catholic students from three ele mentary schools sit at circular tables watching the drum represents the heartbeat of mother earth two native adults say this at separate times during this celebration of native culture tuesday to commemorate national aboriginal day v one of these native adults is suzanne smoke community co-ordi- nator for georgina islands elementary school her other native name is gihew kwe which means golden eagle woman in ojibwa ms smoke has a sevenyearold daughter named cedar smokecharles her other name is ogema geeziko kwe which means head woman of the sky world she cedar has been listening to that drum since shewas in my womb and she has been around ceremonies and powwows ms smoke said for a people who have long feared the loss of their culture passing tradi tions on to their children is especially important one effective tool for pass ing on that culture is dance we dance to celebrate heal or tell stories said georgina island school teacher tanya leary georgina island is inhabited by the chippewas of georgina first nation who also live on snake island and fox island the islands lie about 2 kilome tres off the southern shore of lake sim- coe the largest nearby centre is sutton which is on the mainland about 65 kilometres to the southwest formal aboriginal dance classes are extremely rare most dance techniques are taught through ceremonies and powwows children often learn to dance from the time they can walk arid some families follow powwows across ontario going to a different one each weekend but ms leary whose native name is i seaulteaux teaches kindergarten and grade 1 at georgina islands elementary school and has actually worked native dance into her curriculum every thurs day while her male students are drum ming her female students learn hand drumming and dancing it gives kids a sense of identity and pride its an expression of self and story telling she said native dancing is about a lot more than just movement of the body learning dance is also good for ward ing off peer pressure said ms leary who has an eightyearold daughter named saga it dancing grounds you culturally gives you a sense of where you are it keeps you out of trouble and mischief a native man named somosi showed students parts of the regalia he wears when dancing while the piece he shows is heavy it is only part of a full regalia that can weigh 50 to 75 pounds it took about four weeks to design and another four weeks to put together the piece he show students is made of bone glass beads smoked moose hide and deer hide and is what warriors wore into battle he said were still wearing it still protecting society my battle is against racism and ignorance somosi said somosi a drum maker and dancer has led cultural work shops around the world children love learning about their culture through dance he said s ux people talk to them all day it danc ing is a visual tactile experience that makes it real not something they have read in a text book it brings it alive in what seems worlds apart in markham carol ngai 12 has studied at the toronto chinese dance academy for eight years her dancing has taught her about chinese geography she said i learned more about places and nations the young dancer said richmond hill resident isha jairath started classical indian dancing at ge five and has been studying dance under menakka thakkar at the canadian acad emy of indian dance nrtyakala in thornhill for the past nine years her mother neelam jairath never had the opportunity to learn classical indian dancing while growing up in a small town in northern india but des- perately wanted her daughter to have that chance here in canada i wanted her in touch with her cul ture classical dance hasspirituality in it each dance movement is related to god it brings out inner soul personality mrs jairathsaid her daughter has been learning astyle of classical dance called bharatanatyam that originated in south india and expects dance will remain an important part of her life it is sometimes hard to figure out where you are living in two cultures dance helped me form a cultural foun- dation for myself said ms jairath a 19v yearold dancer and performer with the menaka thakkar dance company it is active learning you ask ques tions i could learn about culture in afun way the learning environment wasatq good it was learning the way lvtji i learn in a very loving caring environ- merit shc2s phot6 iliustoatidnmjke errerr dm here for opinions thoughts on being canadian on canada day the fanciful naive notion by social engineers like former prime minister pierre trudeau and the leftlib pseudointellectuals who supported him is that a nation can somehow be forged by weaving together a patchwork quilt of differentraces and cultures from around yorkregion com it clicks home the world the thinking was that all these new canadians would happily coexist and build a brave new canada distinct and unique in the world trudeau a vicious ideologue despised the notion of the us melting pot no surprise since he hated americans believing instead that statesanctioned and funded multiculturalism would be superior to any system in the world for the rest of the story go to p blogs oh yorkregioncom read john slykhuis in the right in our blogs section